In the tropics, prolonged droughts damage farm saved stock plants leading to shortage in planting material at the start of the planting season. Despite wide adoption of orange fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) its sensitivity to drought and poor vegetative growth brought grafting techniques for variety improvement. In this poster Mihiretu reports that grafting improved vine yield of drought sensitive OFSP grown under water deficit conditions. The nature of root stock cultivars influenced the vine character of the scion cultivar. Therefore, vines of drought sensitive OFSP cultivars can be maintained over the long drought season by grafting onto vigorous, drought tolerant varieties.