Development and continuous improvement of a real time visual dashboard on the Sweetpotato Knowledge Portal (SPKP) is a tool for tracking progress. Integration of the online Sweetpotato Variety Catalogue in 2019. Increased number of registered users and sessions on the Portal since 2016. Increased social media engagement on Facebook and …

Successfully held annual meetings for four technical community of practice (CoP) working groups over five, years with almost 1,000 participants (31% women) in total Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) Technical Meeting held annually with over 100 participants and over 40 organizations participating during last two years (Fig. 1) …

Acquired and upgraded an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy machine (ICP-OES) for mineral analysis, including an autosampler which enables high throughput analyses (Fig. 1). Research Associate Derick Malavi received training on operating the ICP-OES and X-Ray Fluorescence at the Maize Quality Laboratory, CIMMYT in Mexico. FANEL successfully registered for …

Five potential and financially viable business models were examined for OFSP value-added products in the Kenyan context. These potential OFSP value-added products are cookies, cupcakes and mandazi (donuts), and OFSP purée for bakery products. However, the choice of products might differ in other regions based on market demand and cost …

Orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) purée can be used to substitute wheat flour by 25-60% depending on the product, without affecting the quality of baking procedures. We developed a safe, vacuum-packed shelf-stable purée that lasts 3 months without refrigeration, using locally available preservatives. By carefully washing the roots, it is not necessary …

Design, installation and testing of a solar-powered storage facility (Fig.1) was conducted over four months in Marracuene, Mozambique using fresh roots of four varieties. The percentage of marketable root weight was above 70% of the initial weight at four months of cold storage in all the four varieties. There were …

Two evaporatively cooled stores (Fig.1) with the capacity to each hold 5 tonnes of sweetpotato roots were constructed in Kenya, one run on mains power and the other on solar. Using the evaporative cooling system temperatures of 20-23°C were achieved and fresh sweetpotato storage trials kept 63-83 % of the …

Extensive testing of LAMP (Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification) has shown a high sensitivity and specificity in detecting sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV), and begomoviruses comparable to using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-QPCR). On-site detection of SPFMV, SPCSV, and begomoviruses was simple to perform …

Begomoviruses have progressively been reported to be infecting sweetpotatoes throughout the world. Despite showing few symptoms, limited studies have reported them to have a varying but significant impact on root quality and yield. A cultivar with moderate resistance to Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) and/or Sweet potato chlorotic stunt …