Production of high quality early generation sweetpotato seed is expensive. The process requires micro-propagation of pathogen tested tissue culture plantlets, which are then acclimatized and hardened for normal plant growth under screen house conditions.  National Agricultural Research Institutes and private sector partners in 11 countries are exploring innovations to reduce …

Weevils damage about a quarter of the sweetpotato harvest in Uganda and induce the accumulation of toxic compounds in the healthy-looking parts of damaged storage roots. We have introduced new genes that produce anti-weevil proteins in the sweetpotato storage root through biotechnology. We may have found few with some resistance …

The most important constraints to sweetpotato production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are shortage of high quality planting material and lack of improved OFSP varieties. The conventional breeding approach followed for decades by breeding programs starts with population development (generation of genetic variation through production of botanical seed) and ends with …

Traditionally, sweetpotato breeding programs have taken a long time, 7 to 8 years, to produce a new variety. Moreover, as of 2008, most countries in Africa had no real breeding program and relied on testing materials developed elsewhere. This flyer explains the progress in breeding work between 2015 and 2016. …

This document is about promotion of sustainable sweetpotato production and post-harvest management through farmer field schools in East Africa. The project purpose was specifically to increase the returns from sweetpotato enterprise through improved production and post-harvest management by east African smallholders. This feeds into the more general purpose given by …

By the end of the 4.5 year Phase 1 of the Rooting out Hunger in Malawi with Nutritious Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP) project over 190,000 households received OFSP planting material through a multiple partner approach. OFSP is being fully integrated into the Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) effort to combat malnutrition at the …

This brief describes a project that took place in 4 countries between 2012 – 2015 and worked with 15 radio stations, NGOs, nutrition specialists and national research specialists to develop radio programs focused on OFSP. The programs covered three main topic; production, consumption and nutritional knowledge. The project took place …

This flyer provides highlights of the activities and strategies employed by the VISTA project in Tanzania, since it began in October 2014 until July 2015.  The overall goal of this 3 year project, is to contribute to improved dietary diversity, food security and incomes in Tanzania, especially among households with …

The International Potato Center (CIP) and its partners in Malawi are implementing the , Malawi Improved Seed Systems and Technologies project which has been designed to expand the production and utilization of nutritious orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) in seven districts in USAID’s Feed the Future (FTF) zones of inuence in Malawi. The project will result in improved …