ABSTRACT
Sweetpotato and cassava are important food crop targets for transforming livelihoods in Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda. To effectively deliver new crop varieties, there is need to explore and characterize consumption groups based on evaluation of newly bred genotypes (advanced or released) in comparison with leading or existing varieties on market. We investigated preference clusters among consumers of steamed sweetpotato in Uganda, boiled sweetpotato in Mozambique and the fermented cassava product, fufu, in Nigeria and characterized them by their sensory preferences, sociodemographic characteristics and product consumption habits. In Uganda, three clusters emerged: the first (n= 24%) comprised youths that uniquely disliked a white-fleshed genotype; the second (n= 49%) comprised rural residents who did not dislike any genotype; the third (n= 25%) comprised men traders who did not like orange-fleshed genotypes. Sweetpotato consumers in Mozambique were separated into two clusters: one (n= 52%) comprised occasional consumers of sweetpotato who liked all genotypes while the other (n= 48%) comprised frequent consumers of sweetpotato who were more critical about the sensory quality of the sweetpotato. Fufu consumers in Nigeria were clustered into four groups: the first one (n= 15%) comprised adults who uniquely disliked GOVERNOR for reasons unrelated to sensory quality; the second one (n = 25%) comprised occasional fufu consumers who were not primarily farmers, were influenced by texture characteristics and uniquely disliked TME 419; the third (n= 18%) consisted of breakfast consumers of fufu whose preferences were driven by colour and disliked UMUCASS37; the last one (n= 42%) comprised lunchtime consumers of fufu whose preferences were influenced by colour. This information emphasizes the need for market segmentation to facilitate effective breeding.
