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The Core Concept

Sweetpotato is widely grown on a small-scale throughout the continent, predominantly by women. Sweetpotato came from the Americas. The dominant varieties established were white-fleshed.

Just one small root (125 gms) of orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) provides the daily vitamin A needs of a young child. 48% of children under 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are vitamin A deficient. Vitamin A is essential for a strong immune system & good eyesight.

A marginal change in the food system can lead to a major

change in human health

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Getting to Scale Takes Time & Commitment

Low and Thiele (2020) Agricultural Systems 179.

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Questioning Conventional Wisdom (1995): African & Asians will not eat orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes (OFSP)

Sweet potato cultivars with deep yellow or orange-fleshed roots are

unfortunately rejected in many developing countries in favor of white or cream-fleshed types having little or no provitamin A activity.

The Sweet Potato: an Untapped Food Resource. Jennifer Wolfe 1992.

Previous attempts to introduce OFSP into parts of Asia had failed..

Pilot work in Kenya among 20 women’s groups (1995-1997) revealed that:

  • The color orange was attractive and well-liked
  • The question was the TEXTURE
    • Local varieties have high dry matter (>28%)
    • Introduced OFSP ”best bets” had low dry matter & were considered watery by adults
    • The children loved low-dry matter types

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Get out in the field, observe and consult. You may need to question the institutional mantra..

Very few resources were available for breeding in the 1990s, 2000s. Emphasis on Global Public Goods… Breeding at HQ to serve the world.

CIP had obtained germplasm from Africa to use in its breeding program in Peru.

However, when those varieties arrived in SSA in 2002, all collapsed under the Sweet potato Virus Disease (SPVD) pressure found in East Africa.

In Mozambique, we realized the need to be breeding locally.

The introduced OFSP variety Resisto outperformed the local landrace in terms of root yield, but no planting material was left for the following season….

RESISTO:

-- High β-Carotene

--High-yielding; good taste

--Medium root size desired in market

CANASUMANA

-- Hardier vines, more drought resistant

--Continuous root formation, good for piecemeal harvesting

Lesson from Mozambique

Breeding in Africa for Africa

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Scaling alongside Research to Address the Bottlenecks..

Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (2009-2019)

Goal: To combat malnutrition and poverty in African households through access to improved varieties of sweetpotato and their diversified use

As of December 2019, 6.3 million households were reached in 15 SSA countries

The foundation of this work is adapted varieties to local environments, that producers and consumers want to eat.