News and Views - Sweetpotato Knowledge Portal

Understanding farmer needs for new sweetpotato varieties

Jeanne Mukasine hails from Gakenke district in the northern reaches of Rwanda, the country of a thousand hills. Mukasine wears many hats —farmer, mother and wife. She is also a successful agri-preneur. Jeanne Mukasine (left) on her farm with Kiddo Mtunda (a sweetpotato breeder from Tanzania, and Jean Ndirigwe (a …

Building synergies between modernized sweetpotato breeding and seed systems for improved varieties in East and Central Africa

Faith Njunge 3 days ago News 0

SweetGAINS (Genetic Advances and Innovative Seed Systems) is a project aiming to modernize sweetpotato breeding operations, accelerate and expand the development and dissemination of nutrient rich, climate-resilient sweetpotato varieties to benefit millions of African families. Over the next three years, SweetGAINS, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will employ …

ORANGE-FLESHED SWEETPOTATO TO FEED HIDDEN HUNGER

Bernice Wairimu March 5, 2020 News 0

No-one wakes up saying ‘I crave vitamin A today’ Listen to podcast There is more to good nutrition than calories and protein. The realisation that you can be perfectly well fed, maybe even too well fed, and yet still malnourished, is relatively recent. It often goes by the name hidden …

PATATE DOUCE A CHAIR ORANGE. VOTRE PASSEPORT POUR UNE BONNE SANTE (YOUR PASSPORT TO GOOD HEALTH-FRENCH VERSION)

Faith Njunge February 13, 2020 News 0

Good news!Read and download the french version of our famous “Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP) Passport to Good Health”. This passport-sized document contains all the facts and figures you need to know about orange-fleshed sweetpotato from its nutritional value, how it can be used, who to contact for varieties, contact information for …

GHANA PREPARES FOR RELEASE OF FOUR SWEETPOTATO VARIETIES

Faith Njunge January 30, 2020 News 3

The Ghana National Variety Release and Registration Committee (NVRRC) recently conducted a field inspection and review of performance data at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) in Nyankpala, Ghana. Sweetpotato inspection plots for release at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – …

CIP’S MARIA ISABEL ANDRADE HONORED BY TOP PLANT BREEDING JOURNAL

Faith Njunge January 30, 2020 News 0

In its December 2019 issue, the journal Plant Breeding Reviews has recognized International Potato Center (CIP) scientist and 2016 World Food Prize co-recipient, Maria Isabel Andrade, for her contributions to the field for her important work on sweetpotato. The article describes Andrade’s professional journey starting in the island nation of Cape Verde, where …

MANUAL FOR SWEETPOTATO PRE‐BASIC SEED PRODUCTION USING THE SANDPONICS SYSTEM

Faith Njunge December 24, 2019 News 0

This manual provides a “how‐to” guide to what is needed to set‐up and manage a small sandponic unit. Diagrams and instructions are presented on how to set up the sandponics system in a screenhouse. The components of the optimized nutrient media for multiplying pre‐basic sweetpotato vines under a sandponics system …

IMPROVING SWEETPOTATO VIRUS DIAGNOSTICS: SEQUENCING AND ASSEMBLY TRAINING IN NAIROBI, KENYA

Faith Njunge November 1, 2019 News 0

International Potato Center (CIP) in collaboration with the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) Nairobi, Kenya, conducted a one-week training on the use of high throughput sequencing and assembly of small RNAs (sRSA) for viral diagnostics.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: PHABIAN MAKOKHA MSc PLANT BREEDING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

Faith Njunge October 30, 2019 News 0

“The great passion l have for sweetpotato kept me soldiering on, l would want a situation where access to adequate quality seed of improved varieties is no longer a bottleneck.” Tell us about yourself I’m Phabian Makokha, 32 years old. For the past 21 months, I’ve been an MSc. student …