Eat Orange!
Helen Keller International Wins Award for Innovation at CGIAR event

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December 2006 – Helen Keller International (HKI) and its partners received a $30,000 award from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for its orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) program in Africa.  HKI, which collaborates with the International Potato Center (CIP) and HarvestPlus, was one of four winners to receive the top award at the Innovation Marketplace event. The OFSP program promotes the cultivation and consumption of orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes to improve food security and combat vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in developing countries, a leading cause in mortality in African children.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 42% of children under the age of five suffer from VAD, a condition that greatly increases the chances of becoming blind and significantly contributes to the risk of death. Controlling VAD in sub-Saharan Africa will prevent as many as 645,000 child deaths per year. Adding 100 grams of orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes to a daily diet can help prevent VAD in children and mothers as well as reduce the risk of child mortality. 

Sweetpotatoes are widely grown in Africa, but the crops are almost exclusively white-fleshed varieties that have little or no beta-carotene (β-carotene) needed for the body to create vitamin A.  The orange-fleshed varieties of sweetpotatoes, familiar to Americans, are one of the best natural sources of β-carotene. Research demonstrates that they can play a significant role as a viable long-term food based strategy in developing countries.  A study done in Mozambique, led by Michigan State University, showed the promotion of OFSP production led to a decrease in VAD, from 60%-36% in participating households. 

In Africa, OFSP are usually boiled or grilled and are most frequently eaten by women and children, the groups most at risk of mortality and morbidity due to VAD. Sweetpotato leaves are typically consumed in sauces that accompany the main meal of the day. OFSP production can also be an income-generating activity. Sales of OFSP in village markets enhance their availability and access to the non-producing population.

In order to encourage farmers, many of whom are women, to adopt OFSP as part of their production and consumption, HKI implements behavior change and demand creation strategies, integrates OFSP into health/nutrition activities, and provides training to front-line workers, usually governmental or non-governmental agricultural extension agents.
 
CIP, one of the international agricultural research centers supported by the CGIAR, coordinates the Vitamin A for Africa initiative, bringing together multi-sector partners from sub-Saharan Africa countries to promote OFSP.  CIP breeds and tests various types of OFSP, and provides clean planting materials and technical guidance in OFSP production and promotion to development organizations and public-sector institutions. HarvestPlus is a CGIAR-wide initiative that seeks to increase opportunities for the expansion of OFSP by providing technical expertise and promote multi-disciplinary research necessary to breed and disseminate nutrient-dense staple food crops.

The program has already reached thousands of families in Africa. Approximately 90,000 families in Mozambique, 10,000 in Burkina Faso and 15,000 in Niger have adopted OFSP. In Mozambique, the program is part of an integrated agriculture and nutrition approach emphasizing market development and consumer behavior change to achieve food sustainability.  In Burkina Faso, 50 schools have implemented the program into their school gardens, so that students are taught life skills as well as the importance of nutrition in a daily diet. 

Looking forward, HKI, CIP and HarvestPlus hope to expand the OFSP program both within existing and to new countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. One goal of the program is developing varieties of OFSP based on specific eco-zones, including those that are drought, pest and/or disease-resistant. 

The OFSP program is sponsored by an international partnership of agriculturalists and nutritionists, working together at the country level to introduce locally suitable OFSP varieties. In addition to these primary sponsors, other partners include networks of key government, NGO, and research groups that have helped to raise money as well as support activities to reach more families in need. Past and current donors of this initiative include: the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the McKnight Foundation, the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Danish Foreign Ministry (DANIDA), HarvestPlus, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Micronutrient Initiative and PLAN International.