What have the Speedbreeders Achieved?
Decentralized breeding in Africa for Africa clearly has produced results. By using new methods and tools, and engaging with farmers earlier in the breeding cycle, Speedbreeders had released 46 new sweetpotato varieties since 2009, 37 of which are orange-fleshed by 2015. Thirteen breeders contributed to the 2014 edition of the Catalogue of Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato for Africa. Capacity building efforts are helping to build the next generation of breeders. Evidence has been generated proving that hybrid vigor can be exploited in sweetpotato; now, even faster breeding progress can be expected. By December 2013, 890,000 SSA households had received orange-fleshed varieties.