Empowering youth-led food chain transformation: the training needs of agricultural students on orange-fleshed sweet potato value addition in Nigeria

Abstract

Potato is generally regarded as a minor crop and food for the poor; hence it’s potential for cheap dietary supply of essential nutrients rests on the popularity of its value-added products. In view of this, agricultural students exposed to entrepreneurial trainings were studied to examine their level of awareness, knowledge of OFSP value addition processes, possession of relevant skills, and willingness to undergo training on OFSP value addition. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to select 150 undergraduates of agriculture at Osun State University who had previously undergone entrepreneurial training. Primary data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire and the same were subjected to descriptive and inferential analyses. Results showed almost equal gender representation (51.7% males and 49.3% females) among the respondents and many (63.3%) of them were involved in income-generating activities. The students were mainly aware of OFSP food products like OFSP dry slurry (X ̅= 2.26) and sparri (X ̅=2.24), but they lacked remarkable knowledge of the production processes. Appreciable cooking (X ̅=1.91) and baking (X ̅= 1.85) skills were affirmed and most of them indicated willingness to be trained on OFSP value addition processes. A significant relationship was found between the agricultural students’ skill proficiency and knowledge of OFSP value addition (r = 0.270 at p ≤ 0.05). It is concluded that the agricultural students willingly felt and acknowledged the substantial need for training on OFSP value-added products for possible uptake as a livelihood source.