[5-1015-A] Food Safety (2)

[5-1015-A-01] Assessment of the Handling and Temporary Storage of Yams in Market Places in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

*Okwunna Maryjane Umego¹, Habeeb Adedotun Alabi², Yahaya Mijinyawa² (1. Federal University Oye Ekiti(Nigeria), 2. University of Ibadan(Nigeria))

Keywords:Yam, Yam Storage, Open Shed, Yam Stall

Yams are scarce during non-harvest seasons and the prices are exorbitant with majority of the population unable to buy. This situation motivated the interest for this research to assess the handling of yam and the temporal storage practices among traders in order to identify and have good understanding of the various activities pertaining to the yam markets. Visits to the markets, interview with the traders and measurement of the storage temperature and relative humidity were carried out to obtain data for the assessment of handling and temporal storage of yams in the markets. Five activities were identified pertaining to yams in the markets, namely: arrival of yams in vehicles, unloading of the yams, display of the yams for sale, packaging and loading of sold yams, and lastly temporal storage of the unsold tubers. The assessment of the handling of yam tubers in each of the above mentioned activities revealed that; the handling operations are rudimentary and results in bruising, breakage and exposure of tubers to adverse environmental conditions thereby causing substantial losses. The assessment of the temporal storage structures for yams in the markets showed that; there are two types of storage structures for yams in the markets, these are: the open shed and the market stalls. The storage environment, the design and construction materials of these storage structures are not effective for yam, thereby contributing to losses. These findings revealed that the open shed and market stall rooms used by yam wholesalers in Bodija and Bere-Mapo markets are ineffective for yam storage because the storage environment within these structures as influenced by the design and construction materials cannot allow for effective storage of yams. The problems associated with these structures in percentage are roof leakage 34.8% and 11.4%, rodent and pest attacks 82.6% and 11.4%, and adverse environmental conditions 91.3% and 85.7% for open sheds and stalls respectively. It is recommended that the materials of construction and design of these structures be modified to make them more effective.