Sweet potato, as excellent source of both pro-vitamin A and starch, can contribute to address two South African national priorities namely vitamin A deficiency and food security. The project aims at development, maintenance and promotion of sweetpotato varieties improved yield, good storage root quality and high β-carotene content with increased …

To address vitamin A deficiency, a national health problem in South Africa (prevalent in 43.6% of 1-9-year olds), the ARC promotes implementation of a crop-based approach involving the establishment of food gardens to increase the production, availability, access to, and consumption of provitamin A rich foods together with education in …

Feeding is one of the main production constraints for smallholder pig farmers due to the seasonality, high cost and poor quality of feeds; coupled with limited knowledge of supplementation strategies. As a coping strategy, farmers extensively use crop residues, grasses, weeds and kitchen leftovers to feed their animals. Sweetpotato vines …

This research program aims at the development of weevil resistant (WR) varieties of sweetpotato using biotechnology for sub-Saharan Africa. Two genetic engineering strategies are pursued: (1) the accumulation in the storage root of a weevil-toxin derived from Bacillus thuringiensis, the Bt sweetpotato; (2) the expression of RNAi inhibitory of weevil …

The first phase of the Rooting Out Hunger project (ROH 1) focused on promoting the adoption and appropriate use of orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) as a food-based approach in reducing malnutrition and poverty levels in Malawi.  As the project transitions into the second phase that will run from 2016 to 2020, …

Malawi is one of the largest producers of sweet potatoes in southern Africa. The majority of sweet potatoes are sold in rural markets and thus consumed locally. Very limited value addition is done at the household or industrial level. With the vast majority of sweet potatoes flooding the market at …

This proposal works with existing sweetpotato vine multipliers to supply increased quantities of planting material (vines) of improved varieties to smallholder farmers. These multipliers grow crops in wetlands during the dry season and then sell the vines as planting material at the start of the rainy season. Value chain analysis …