[cs_content][cs_section bg_image=”https://annualreport2019.rtb.cgiar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/fp2-top.png” parallax=”false” separator_top_type=”none” separator_top_height=”50px” separator_top_inset=”0px” separator_top_angle_point=”50″ separator_bottom_type=”none” separator_bottom_height=”50px” separator_bottom_inset=”0px” separator_bottom_angle_point=”50″ _order=”0″ _label=”Section 1″ style=”margin: -25px 0px 0px;padding: 0px;background-position: left top;background-size: 100%;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” bg_color=”transparent” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 250px 0px 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px 0 0px 0px;”][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”false” class=”cs-ta-left” style=”color: rgb(245, 130, 32);margin-top: 0px;”]Multi-partner coalition drives adoption of improved sweetpotato by over six million African households[/x_custom_headline][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][cs_element_section _id=”5″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”6″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”7″ ][cs_element_image _id=”8″ ][cs_element_text _id=”9″ ][cs_text]
In 17 African countries, a coalition of 17 partners including R4D (research for development) organizations, major donors and RTB, joined together and supported the distribution and use of 150 improved sweetpotato varieties, including 100 orange ones, which have high levels of vitamin A. These varieties were distributed to at least 6.2 million farm households, reaching over 29 million people.
In 2009, a multi-partner coalition including R4D organizations, and major donors (and later joined by RTB) came together as the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) to promote the broader use of improved varieties of sweetpotato across Africa. The coalition, led by the International Potato Center (CIP), contributed to the release of 150 improved varieties of sweetpotato, including 100 orange-fleshed ones (OFSP), which have high levels of vitamin A. This is important for combating weakened immune systems, risk of blindness, childhood diseases such as diarrhea and other health problems that stem from vitamin A deficiency. Just one small cooked root of OFSP meets the daily vitamin A needs of a young child.
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SPHI was a highly ambitious intervention which distributed new sweetpotato varieties to a massive group of low-income farmers over a large area. The varieties were bred specifically for improved nutrition, but also to resist pests, diseases, abiotic shocks and to be high yielding. The distribution was especially challenging because sweetpotatoes are vegetatively propagated. Farmers cannot be simply given a packet of seed, as with cereal grains or beans, for example. Partners involved in SPHI had to address a series of logistical challenges to get fresh cuttings to farmers in the villages. This meant establishing trained multipliers, who knew how to produce quality planting material by minimizing virus infestation.
In all, the coalition set up 1,030 decentralized vine multipliers, farmers who could produce and sell vines to neighboring villagers. An ingenious phone survey took advantage of the recent, wide acceptance of cell phones across Africa to reach out to the vine multipliers. Although they were now largely free of project support, 76% of the vine multipliers contacted reported that they were still producing sweetpotato vines for other rural households. The survey also enabled plant breeders to follow which varieties are the most demanded over time.
The coalition tracked how the improved varieties were distributed across the continent. 6.2 million households (which included about 29 million people) received vines of the new sweetpotato varieties in 18 countries: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
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This success with SPHI is a model that can be followed by future efforts to distribute vegetatively propagated crops across a vast area and to use a monitoring system to keep track of the farmers who benefited.
[/cs_text][cs_element_image _id=”23″ ][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][cs_section bg_color=”transparent” parallax=”false” separator_top_type=”none” separator_top_height=”50px” separator_top_inset=”0px” separator_top_angle_point=”50″ separator_bottom_type=”none” separator_bottom_height=”50px” separator_bottom_inset=”0px” separator_bottom_angle_point=”50″ _label=”Section 2″ style=”margin: 0px;padding: 30px 0px 45px;background-size: 100%;background-position: top;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px 0 0px 0px;”][x_share title=”SHARE THIS” share_title=”” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”false” linkedin=”true” pinterest=”false” reddit=”false” email=”true” email_subject=””][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content][cs_content_seo]Multi-partner coalition drives adoption of improved sweetpotato by over six million African households
Woman sweetpotato farmer in Cote d’Ivoire proudly showing her harvest. (K. Dibi)
In 17 African countries, a coalition of 17 partners including R4D (research for development) organizations, major donors and RTB, joined together and supported the distribution and use of 150 improved sweetpotato varieties, including 100 orange ones, which have high levels of vitamin A. These varieties were distributed to at least 6.2 million farm households, reaching over 29 million people.
In 2009, a multi-partner coalition including R4D organizations, and major donors (and later joined by RTB) came together as the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) to promote the broader use of improved varieties of sweetpotato across Africa. The coalition, led by the International Potato Center (CIP), contributed to the release of 150 improved varieties of sweetpotato, including 100 orange-fleshed ones (OFSP), which have high levels of vitamin A. This is important for combating weakened immune systems, risk of blindness, childhood diseases such as diarrhea and other health problems that stem from vitamin A deficiency. Just one small cooked root of OFSP meets the daily vitamin A needs of a young child.
SPHI was a highly ambitious intervention which distributed new sweetpotato varieties to a massive group of low-income farmers over a large area. The varieties were bred specifically for improved nutrition, but also to resist pests, diseases, abiotic shocks and to be high yielding. The distribution was especially challenging because sweetpotatoes are vegetatively propagated. Farmers cannot be simply given a packet of seed, as with cereal grains or beans, for example. Partners involved in SPHI had to address a series of logistical challenges to get fresh cuttings to farmers in the villages. This meant establishing trained multipliers, who knew how to produce quality planting material by minimizing virus infestation.
In all, the coalition set up 1,030 decentralized vine multipliers, farmers who could produce and sell vines to neighboring villagers. An ingenious phone survey took advantage of the recent, wide acceptance of cell phones across Africa to reach out to the vine multipliers. Although they were now largely free of project support, 76% of the vine multipliers contacted reported that they were still producing sweetpotato vines for other rural households. The survey also enabled plant breeders to follow which varieties are the most demanded over time.
The coalition tracked how the improved varieties were distributed across the continent. 6.2 million households (which included about 29 million people) received vines of the new sweetpotato varieties in 18 countries: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The coalition wasn’t content to just distribute the vines. The partners set up a monitoring system to keep track of the farmers who benefitted. For example, between mid-2018 to mid-2019, two-thirds of the 251,199 farmers who received vines directly from the project were women, explains Julius Okello, of CIP.
This success with SPHI is a model that can be followed by future efforts to distribute vegetatively propagated crops across a vast area and to use a monitoring system to keep track of the farmers who benefited.
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