RIU - Research Into Use

Better sweet potatoes boost farmers from subsistence to the market economy
Sweet potato growers in Uganda have gone from not having enough produce to eat, to wondering how best to market all the sweet potatoes they harvest. Previously, vines for planting sweet potato crops were in extremely short supply. Plus, sweet potato virus severely damaged tubers. Now, farmer groups produce and market plenty of quality planting material - varieties resistant to virus disease. The new sweet potatoes, high in beta-carotene, also help reduce serious vitamin A deficiencies which affect 30% of children and 50% of women. Quality sweet potatoes for export fetch high prices. A new growers association is already working to export the new varieties. The potential is huge and the improved varieties have spread to D.R. Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and even Chad. (Ref: CPP53)
Farmers take the lead in learning
Farmer Field Schools (FFS) are helping to turn research results into improved livelihoods for the poor in Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania. In these open-air schools, farmers participate in evaluating new technologies, methods and knowledge. They also select the crops they wish to focus on, identify the problems they need to solve, and select the technologies they want to use. This approach fosters rapid uptake and has helped to improve the production of maize, beans, sweet potatoes, sorghum and tomatoes. Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools bring together orphaned youths in areas with high HIV/AIDS prevalence. They place a strong focus on health, nutrition and income generation and use drama and theatre to develop self esteem and confidence among the youths. (Ref: CPP07)
Life is sweet with new sweet potato varieties
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in central Uganda and Tanzania are counting on improved sweet potato varieties to boost their nutrition and incomes. These sweet potatoes were chosen through a process involving farmers at all stages. Some varieties were selected from available materials, under local smallholder farming conditions: taste, market characteristics and resistance to pests and diseases were some of the things farmers were looking for. Farmers and scientists also worked side by side to develop new varieties through client-orientated breeding at decentralised, on-farm communal sites. This process has provided - in addition to the new sweet potatoes - knowledge among farmers about the potential of variety development, as well as scientists’ insights into farmers’ needs. (Ref: CPP20)
A well-known lifesaver finds new promise
Consumers and farmers in Africa will soon be able to benefit from the huge untapped potential of sweet potato thanks to a series of new findings. They include improved selection methods, guidelines for consumer tests, new breeding strategies, and knowledge of the factors that cause damage during handling and storage, among others. Sweet potato is considered the most under-exploited of the developing world’s major crops. The new knowledge can be used in programmes across Africa to ensure that this crop will fulfil its promise in fighting hunger, contributing to livelihoods and combating vitamin A deficiencies among the poorest of the poor. (Ref: CPH34)
Farmers learn to make the most of seed
Good crops start with good seed. A new manual and set of posters are now available to help farmers make the most of seed. Most farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa don’t buy seed: they save their own or trade with other farmers. But, this arrangement often doesn’t work - drought, pests, diseases, civil wars or other troubles mean they just don’t have enough good quality seed. Over 1000 smallholder vegetable farmers in Kiambu District, Kenya, learned the best ways of choosing, drying and storing seed by discovering for themselves. Now, government staff in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania use these methods to help extension workers and other farmers make sure they have reliable supplies of healthy seed for vegetables, sorghum, yam, cassava, groundnuts, sweet potato, maize, and beans. (Ref: CPP69)
Learning is made easy by new sweet potato guides and manuals
New learning tools are providing a fast, easy way to access important knowledge on pre- and post-harvest management of sweet potato in East Africa. The materials include information on the farmer field school (FFS) approach, validated in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, as well as on the control of important sweet potato diseases. Posters, leaflets and training guides are available in English, Ateso, Swahili and Luganda. A manual with comprehensive technical information for farmers and facilitators has also been field-tested and published as individual farmer guidebooks in local languages. The materials, relying heavily on photos, are specially designed to help in training people who are illiterate or for whom the language of the materials is not their native tongue. (Ref: CPP21)
New sweet potato technologies make more the merrier
A programme designed to help farmers make the most of surplus production has identified 20 local and 300 potential global markets for fresh sweet potato grown in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. More than 2000 farmers were able to access new markets and cut their on-farm post-harvest losses by 20-30%. Previously, these farmers were unable to appreciate the benefits of new, high-yielding varieties that produce three times as much as the former ones. The programme promoted a range of orange-fleshed sweet potato-based products. At the industrial scale, at least three private firms now absorb over 80 MT of dried sweet potato chips per month. (Ref: CPH44)
Sweet potato boosts health and incomes
Simple techniques for improved sweet potato transport, curing, packaging and storage can help farmers, market traders and consumers to cut their post-harvest losses. This crop’s hardiness and, more recently, its promise for combating vitamin A deficiency have rightfully gained it a reputation as a lifesaver. Yet problems after the harvest limit its contribution to incomes, food security and health. These technologies, which have enormous potential for saving lives and improving livelihoods, have been tested in Tanzania with good results and are now ready for wide dissemination. Consumers also have shown their approval of new vitamin A-rich orange fleshed varieties, which are being promoted in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia. (Ref: CPH40)

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