In Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda, we are testing business enterprise models for medium-scale seed multiplication to provide the link between up-stream sources of clean seed and new varieties, and downstream community-based multipliers. After undertaking business skills training, 13 medium-scale seed and root enterprises or cooperatives, are operating on a cost …

Jimmy Lamo, Rice Breeder at the National Agricultural Crop Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), Uganda observed in an on-station trial, that the rice seed produced on a plot where sweetpotato had previously been planted had higher seed purity. His curiosity has led to a collaboration with the International Potato Center (CIP) …

As the consumption of delicious golden bread made with vitamin A rich orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) purée grows across Kenya, so too does the demand for an all-year-round supply of the fresh sweetpotato roots. A constant supply of OFSP roots can be achieved through a combination of staggered planting and production, …

We have succeeded in developing vacuum packed orange-fleshed sweetpotato puree using locally available safe preservatives that can store for three months at temperatures below 25 degrees celsius. With adjustments to the recipe, high quality OFSP bread can be made. Storable puree can assure year-round availability of OFSP puree to bakers.

In 2017 a major supermarket expressed major interest in the commercialization of OFSP puree bread. In response, a training with 25 bakers from the supermarket chain was conducted followed by a successful two week promotional launch of OFSP puree bread in ten of its stores in the greater Nairobi. OFSP …

Two doctoral candidates using Food and Nutrition Evaluation Laboratory (FANEL) facilities graduated and six master students are working on their thesis research. This year noted significant increases in demand for carotenoid and proximate analysis at FANEL with samples being analyzed of orange-fleshed sweetpotato and other biofortified crops. FANEL seeks to …

HIDAP, a better tool than Clone Selector for breeders to design and manage their trials, has been launched in 2017.

The project has set up 39 DVMs (46% male, 54% female). After four years, we have reached 102,038 beneficiaries in 8 districts with an adoption rate of 96% measured as those are still growing OFSP at least two years after receiving the vines. Average yields have increased from 3-5 t/ha …

By the end of year 4, the project has reached 90% of its five-year direct beneficiary target, providing households with improved orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) planting material and nutrition education. This far, OFSP has moved in the target areas from being not utilized at all in most households to being consumed …