Seasonality And Frequency Of Consumption Of Yam Food Forms Among Rural Households In Umuahia North Local Government Of Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the seasonality and frequency of consumption of yam food forms among rural households in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study described the socioeconomic characteristics of heads of rural households in the study area; ascertained the food forms of yam consumed by rural households; assessed the frequency of consumption of yam food forms among rural households. Multi-stage random sampling procedure was adopted to select 120 respondents for the study. Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive statistics such as frequencies, mean scores, standard deviations as well as the regression model. The results showed that half of the respondents were males (50.80%) with a mean household‟s size of 6 persons/household. Also, majority of the respondents (95%) were involved in farming with a mean farming experience of 13 years. The results of the study showed that majority of the respondents at any time and in all seasons consumed yam in forms of boiled (65.00%) roasted (53.33%) or fried (71.67%) but they ate yam in pounded form (44.17%) during ceremonies/occasions. Results of the frequency of yam consumption showed that 50.83% of the respondents consumed boiled yam 2-3 times/week, while 57.50% of the respondents ate roasted yam once in a while, 3.33%, every day. It was therefore recommended that the rural dwellers should expand their yam farming areas and improve yam productivity through adoption of modern production techniques so as encourage increase yam consumption in various food forms among rural households in the study area.