PERCEIVED NUTRITIONAL AND MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF COCOYAM AMONG RURAL DWELLERS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA
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Date
2020
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Publisher
International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Abstract
The study investigated rural dwellers perception of the nutritional and medicinal benefits of
cocoyam in Kwara State Nigeria. Three stage sampling technique was used to select 120
respondents for this study. Objectives of the study were to determine the level of cocoyam
consumption among rural dwellers and to evaluate rural dwellers perception on the nutritional
and medicinal benefits of cocoyam. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency counts,
percentages and tables were used to analyze the results of the study. Results revealed that 43.3%
of respondents are farmers and 34.2% of them belong to one farmers’ group or the other.
Majority (91.7%) of respondents consume cocoyam which they usually obtained through
growing (55%), buying (35.8%) and gift (9.2%). The result also showed high percentage (83.3%)
of the respondents were aware of the nutritional and medicinal benefits of the consumption of
cocoyam. Result showed that respondents perceived the following benefits can be derived from
cocoyam: good for people with diabetes (Mean score ( ) =2.55), reduce blood sugar ( ̅=2.52),
prevent heart problems ( ̅=2.56) and reduce blood pressure ( ̅=2.71). The study concluded that
though the respondents are aware of the nutritional and medicinal benefits of consumption of
cocoyam, there is need for more enlightenment on the level of consumption for various
categories of health and nutritional status within households. It was therefore recommended that
enlightenment programmes on the consumption of cocoyam should be carried out to ensure that
the benefits are efficiently derived.