Gendered Food Mapping of Fried Sweetpotato in Ghana

The study was conducted in Bawku Municipality in the north-eastern part of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Three types of information (key informant interviews, focus group discussion (FGD) and individual interviews) were collected from three communities that is; Abisiga, Baribari and Tempezua. Descriptive statistics of the individual interview shows that women constitute 33% of the sample that is 6 out of 18 respondents. The ages of the respondent ranges between 19 and 72 with the average age being 39 years. The ethnic distributions of the sample are Kusasi (56%), Bissa (33%) with the rest being Fulani and Moosi. Agriculture was the backbone of the economies of the enumerated communities. Men and women were both involved in the production of food crops and livestock. The community survey revealed that both men and women have similar perceptions of what constitutes a poor or rich household. Both male and female farmers engaged in monocropping, mixed cropping, intercropping and ridging. Sweetpotato was produced as a monocrop because the leaves of the crop often spread out, making it difficult for a second crop to thrive. The community interactions showed that the majority of men and women farmed together on family plots (up to 80%). However, the community FGD showed that men tended to have better access to productivity enhancing inputs such as good quality lands, fertilizer and family labour. The data from the individual interview show that Obari was the most preferred sweetpotato variety irrespective of sex. Most men preferred Obari because its vines were widely available, whereas for the women, it was because of its good taste. Kuffour was another variety preferred by men predominately, and Puripuri by women. Amuskwera was reported as one of the less preferred sweetpotato varieties cultivated in the surveyed communities. It was reported to be tasteless, not mealy, less compact and had low domestic demand. The main constraints to sweetpotato production across the surveyed communities had to do with inadequate access to fertilizer and labour as well as pests and diseases. The female respondents defined a good sweetpotato crop as one that is easy to process, has a good taste and can grow on marginal lands while for the males, high yield, market demand, good taste and tolerance to pests were important.