Sweetpotato Knowledge Portal
Members of the private sector, civil society, research and donor community came together for the Integrated Nutrition Conference held between November 14 and 16. The theme of the conference was responding with the private sector for greater nutrition impact.
Hosted by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the conference brought together global leaders in the areas of nutrition, water and sanitation, agriculture, health and early childhood development, education, and gender came together to share tools, technologies, practices, business models, and multi-sectoral partnership strategies for improving nutritional outcomes for vulnerable populations. The conference encompassed knowledge, evidence and experience and best practices in integrated nutrition-sensitive programming.
Temesgen Bocher, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa at the International Potato Center (CIP), made a poster presentation on the orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) puree for bakery applications in Kenya. The poster also explains the four key stages in which the project has been implemented and at what stage the project is. It also makes a pictorial presentation on the value chain: how the roots move from the farm to the processors, bakers and eventually to the Tuskys supermarket shelf as baked products. See the poster presentation here.
Malnutrition presents significant threats to human health and economic development. The world faces a double burden of malnutrition and undernutrition, and obesity in developed and developing countries. The solutions to this problem require collaborative, multi-sectoral and integrated efforts. To this end, the conference worked around two objectives: One, to identify strategies for civil society, government and academics for partnering with the private sector in addressing nutritional needs of vulnerable populations; and two, to leverage products, technologies, and practices that support the nutritional needs of vulnerable populations.
The third day of the conference was spent at the Sarit Centre Expo hall where the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) team received over one hundred visitors, who were interested in learning about and sampling sweetpotato products: bread and scones from Tuskys, and Akarabo cookies and mandazi from Rwanda. Visitors to the orange-themed stand got a taste of the products and got their questions on sweetpotato and biofortification answered.
