The Marketing, Processing and Utilization Community of Practice (CoP) met on 20 and 21 May 2015 in Qaribu Inn in Nairobi, to discuss how to scale up marketing, processing and utilization of vitamin-A rich sweetpotato varieties.

The CoP brings together professionals working on all levels of the sweetpotato value chain, as well as private sector players who are innovating processing and utilization of orange-fleshed sweetpotato for commercial products.

This CoP meeting was held under the umbrella of the Africa-wide Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI). SPHI is a 10-year initiative led by the International Potato Centre (CIP), and it is expected to improve the lives of 10 million households by 2020 in 17 target countries. Launched in 2009, the project had already reached over 1 million households by the end of December 2014. One of the key intervention areas is improving the sweetpotato value chain by researching and implementing actions that will remove bottlenecks related to processing, marketing and utilization of sweetpotato products. The overall objective continues to be to develop the essential capacities, products, and methods to reposition sweetpotato in food economies to alleviate poverty and under-nutrition in Africa. Speaking at the start of the event, Jan Low, the SPHI leader, called on participants to think of innovative ways to fast-track the achievement of the SPHI targets.

The meeting was officially opened by Francis K. Amagloh from the University of Development Studies in Ghana, who is the co-leader of the CoP. In his address, he urged participants to consider the fact that farmers would not grow any crop that they can eat only; but rather, they would grow crops that they could sell. With this in mind, he stated that it was the responsibility of the participants to dedicate themselves in exploring ways in which they could help to add value to the farmers’ crops. He wished the participants successful and enriching deliberation.