At the very beginning, potato was an unusual plant specimen grown mainly in botanical gardens. Then it was regarded as a healing, ornamental and garden plant with the healing values of potato discovered by monks who were cultivating it in monastic gardens in Spain, Belgium and near Padua and Vienna, among others.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, potato spread all over the world and in 2007 its annual production amounted to 325 million tonnes and increased over the 10 last years by 4.5 per cent in 2008.
Right now it is considered as a crop for feeding the growing population in Africa and in Uganda the economic value is gaining day by day as it is source of income for farmers in Kigezi and Kapchorwa region.
Likewise sorghum is a crop of importance in Uganda where it is considered as food security crop for the people in eastern and northern Uganda as well as parts of western Uganda.
As such scientists at Makerere University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) have embarked on a journey to add value to Irish potato, sweet potato and sorghum mainly grown by farmers in western Uganda in the Kigezi region.
Value addition process
Value addition attempts started six months ago under a research project titled Makerere University research and innovation fund in potato and sorghum value chain led by the dean of school of agricultural sciences, Prof Jonny Mugisha. Prof Mugisha while giving the overview of the innovation during the launch of the products produced namely Irish potato, sweet potato and sorghum flour used for baking waffles, biscuits and cookies, among others, noted that his team realised that Irish potato and sorghum are foods that are rich in food nutrients and so the need to process products out of them.
“Farmers in the Kigezi region are engaged in growing these two crops which are important both in the primary and secondary form. The place is hilly and farmers are not in position to till large chunks of land for planting. But this can only be done in small plots of land. Since the two crops are the major source of income in this area, we thought it wise to add value to them in order for farmers to earn more income,” he noted.
The team is targeting small tubers of Irish potatoes which is usually left to waste in the fields since they do not attract economic value to the farmers.
Farmers have tried to make crisps and chips out of potato produce but it is not forthcoming in the region because these are foods consumed by the youth in urban areas.
Besides sorghum in this region is used mainly for making beverage drink commonly known as bushera and for local brew called muramba. However, the scientists think sorghum flour can be used for such an innovation for making confectionaries.
The team developed a composite of inferior potato tubers and sorghum where they came up with flour.
It takes about three days to dry and process irish potatoes into flour which is fed into the solar drier with its peels and section of the machine peels off the cover.
Napoleon Kajunju, one of the participating scientists, explained that once the team obtained the potato tubers from the farmers, they are dried using solar dryer while keeping all the food nutrients intact.
The next step was to combine potato flour with sorghum flower at equal ratio. The team carried out laboratory analysis and made sure all the food nutrients in the potato namely fibre, vitamin C, calcium and potassium are kept intact. The same applies to sorghum nutrients namely vitamin A, iron and Zinc.
The team having mixed the flour with addition low ratio of wheat flour, made concentrate out of it with minimum sugar which they used for baking waffles, biscuits and cookies.
There are alternative products of waffles processed out of sweet potato and Irish potato flour mixed with sorghum and one purely out of Irish potato flour. For the biscuits and cookies, Irish potato flour is either mixed with sorghum or baking is done from Irish potato flour only.
The entire processing at the moment is being done at the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering.
The economic viability
The team carried out a market survey in Kigezi region where they intend to capture the market and it is their contention that most of the consumers who have tested the products are willing to pay for it.
At the moment a pack of 150gms of cookies and biscuits is sold at Shs3, 000 and each piece of waffle goes at Shs1, 000
Right now the target is to set up a confectionery processing factory in Kigezi region to directly benefit the farmers and the rural communities.
This is because the neglected small tubers of potatoes which has been left to waste can be sold by farmers where each bag costs approximately Shs70, 000 – Shs100, 000 per every 80kg.
Further Prof Mugisha notes that flour processed from two tubers of sweet potatoes for baking waffles is able to fetch Shs10, 000.
It is now the target of the scientists to train incubates who are willing to take up this initiative as a business venture. Once trained such entrepreneurs will be able to process their own products and package them for sell as an income earning initiative.
January 03, 2021 at 01:26AM
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Biscuits, waffles add value to potatoes - Daily Monitor
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