Sensory characteristics and consumer segmentation for boiled sweetpotatoes

The adoption of sweetpotatoes as a main staple food has been slow in Ghana. Finding a novel way of understanding consumer preferences is regarded as essential in driving sweetpotato adoption in the country, hence the need for this research. A multi-disciplinary approach involving social behaviour and food science was adopted to understand consumer choice. Consumer preference survey, cluster analysis and preference mapping tools were used to combine consumer perception and choices with characteristic traits of different sweetpotato varieties. The results showed a high overall preference (7.39 ± 1.83) for Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Crops Research Institute (CRI), Okumkom. However, some regions Upper East region and Volta regions generally preferred the orange-fleshed variety CSIR-SARI Nan to the overall acceptable cream-fleshed variety CSIR-Okumkom. Three consumer clusters (C1-C3) were also identified with the largest consumer group (C2 = 39.6%) preferring sweetpotatoes with a smooth texture, moist and sweet taste while the smallest sweetpotato consumer group preferred non-sweet sweetpotatoes like PGA14351-4. Different sensory traits abound in sweetpotatoes due to varietal differences and could affect preferences by different consumers. Therefore, target breeding and advocacy must be implemented to reach a wider consumer population which will intend to drive adoption.