A sweetpotato farm in the Mukurueni area, Central Kenya (August, 2002).
Members of the Okago Farmers Group prepare value-added products from
orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes (Western Kenya, February 2005). |
Our
mission is to improve regional sweetpotato productivity and
sustainability through collaborative researches on germplasm conservation, crop improvement,
and development of technology for planting material propagation.
Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] is one of the most important
crops in densely populated East Africa. The crop is vital to destitute
small-scale farmers with limited land, labor and capital. Sweetpotato
performs well in poor soils lacking sufficient nutrients and water
where traditional cereal crops often fail in similar environments.
Sweetpotato also thrives in fertile environments, far exceeding yields
of cereal crops. In short, it has great potential in combating the
food shortage and rampant malnutrition in this region.
| Sweetpotatoes
in East Africa |
| In East African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda),
the most important root and tuber crops are sweetpotato, potato,
and cassava. Out of the three, sweetpotato is the most widely
distributed. It is grown in most areas that do not exceed 2100
meters above sea level and receive sufficient rainfall for plants
to survive. In these areas, as elsewhere in Africa, the crop
is chiefly grown by small-scale farmers in the densely populated
areas (Carey et al., 1997;
Low, 1997).
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