Sweetpotato breeding priority and preferred traits to increasing its utilisation in Niger and Nigeria

Sweetpotato is an important food, feed and vegetable crop in Niger and Nigeria. The adoption of a new variety depends on famers and consumers preferences. The objective of this study was to identify sweetpotato preferred traits by end-users in Niger and Nigeria. The study was conducted in two countries through participatory rural appraisal. The results revealed that sweetpotato is produced by men in Niger, while it is mostly produced by women in South-East Nigeria. In Niger, 100% of cultivated varieties were landraces, while 75.00% in Nigeria were landraces. Results showed that in Niger, farmers preferred high yielding, white flesh colour, and drought tolerant varieties, while in Nigeria they preferred high yielding, white flesh colour, and earliness cultivars. Traders and consumers in both countries preferred healthy, white flesh colour and big storage root size varieties. There is a need of effective breeding program in Niger, and both countries should turn toward developing cultivars with high yield, drought tolerant, and pest and disease resistant.