How biofortified sweet potatoes are keeping pregnant women, young children healthy in Kenya

By DFID

Metrine and her husband Matayo feed their baby son sweet potato PHOTO: DFID

It's mid-morning in Minyali village, Bungoma North district, Kenya. Thirty-eight-year-old Metrine Matayo and her husband Matayo Khisa are on their farm harvesting orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) to prepare lunch for the family.

Metrine pulls a medium size root of sweet potato from the soil and places it on a heap of sweet potatoes nearby. With her husband she collects the harvested sweet potatoes into a basket and heads back to the house.

Matayo explains where all the sweet potatoes have come from: "My wife attended a church meeting in the village where she received information from one of the members about the Mama SASHA project," he says.

"The project aims to help pregnant women and young children stay healthy. My wife was told that women who visited Ndalu Health Centre for Antenatal Care services could receive vouchers to get vines for planting.

"She was two months pregnant at the time and I advised her to go to the health facility the following day. She came home with a pair of vouchers that enabled us to get 100 cuttings of Vita sweet potato and 100 cuttings of Kabode sweet potato from a neighbour."

Handing 8-month-old baby Emmanuel to her husband, Metrine carries on preparing lunch and continues the story: "I received another pair of vouchers during my second and third visits, when I was in my second and third trimesters," she says.

"I also started propagating from the original cuttings. That is why we have a lot of sweet potatoes on our farm."

The power of biofortified potatoes

Widely eaten in Africa, sweet potatoes are easy to grow, drought and disease tolerant, and provide a great source of energy. Unfortunately, traditional African varieties are usually low in vitamin A.

A lack of vitamin A can contribute to blindness, disease and premature death in young children and pregnant women. But thankfully the sweet potatoes that Metrine and Matayo are growing are special.

With support from UK aid through core funding to The Consultative Group for Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the International Potato Centre and HarvestPlus have harnessed the power of biofortification to create a sweet potato that is high in vitamin A - the orange fleshed sweet potato. Just one of these potatoes can supply the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, which can transform the lives of people like Metrine, Matayo and their children.

In western Kenya, the Mama SASHA project, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is focused on promoting the consumption of this new variety of sweet potato among pregnant women, infants, and very young children.

During prenatal care visits at local healthcare facilities, pregnant women like Metrine receive nutrition counselling and vouchers that they can redeem for 200 cuttings of orange fleshed sweet potato vines. The idea is to encourage mothers to get the health care they need and increase consumption of the nutrition-filled orange fleshed sweet potato at the same time.

Potato pride

Back in Metrine and Matayo's kitchen the food is ready and Metrine uses it to prepare a meal of orange fleshed sweet potato and avocado for baby Emmanuel.

"I learnt how to feed myself, my baby and how to prepare orange fleshed sweet potato using different recipes from nutrition counselling at the clinic and after attending the farmers' field day that was supported by Mama SASHA project," says Metrine.

"The knowledge I gained helped me eat a balanced diet during pregnancy - I gained weight steadily, never got sick during pregnancy and gave birth to a baby weighing 3.1kgs. I am proud to be part of the sweet potato project."

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Ethiopian farmers to get market boost through irrigation project

Farm under irrigation in Ethiopia

Ethiopian farmers will benefit from a multi-million irrigation scheme in a value chain improvement project.
 

The  CAD 19.26 million will directly and indirectly benefit more than 200,000 households engaged in livestock and irrigated agriculture, improve the skills of over 5,000 public service staff, and work with 2,100 value chain input and service suppliers at district, zone and federal levels.

The new research for development project named Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders – LIVES was launched today by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), both members of the CGIAR Consortium.

It seeks to directly support of the Government of Ethiopia’s effort to transform smallholder agriculture to be more market-oriented.

“This project is unique in that it integrates livestock with irrigated agriculture development and is designed to support the commercialization of smallholder agriculture by testing and scaling lessons to other parts of Ethiopia,” LIVES project manager, Azage Tegegne emphasized .

The manager added that it will be an excellent opportunity for CGIAR centres to work hand in hand with Ethiopian research and development institutions.”

During the launch the Ethiopian State Minister of Agriculture Wondirad Mandefro welcomed the project as a direct contribution to both the Growth Transformation Plan (GTP) and the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) of the Ethiopian Government.

“We expect this investment to generate technologies, practices and results that can be implemented at larger scales and ultimately benefit millions of Ethiopian smallholder producers as well as the consumers of their products,” Canadian Head of Aid, Amy Baker

Canada which funds the project expect it to contribute to Ethiopia’s efforts to drive agricultural transformation, improve nutritional status and unlock sustainable economic growth through creation of  new and innovative partnerships that will drive agricultural growth.

The project will take place over six years in 31 districts of ten zones in Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples and Tigray regions, where 8% of the country’s human population resides to improve the incomes of smallholder farmers through value chains development in livestock (dairy, beef, sheep and goats, poultry and apiculture) and irrigated agriculture (fruits, vegetables and fodder).

"Projects that support local farmers can help a community in so many ways; not only by providing food and the most appropriate crops, but also by teaching long term skills that can have an impact for years to come," said Canada Minister of International Cooperation the Honourable Julian Fantino.

The project will focus on clusters of districts, developing and improving livestock production systems and technologies in animal breeding, feed resources, animal nutrition and management, sustainable forage seed systems, sanitation and animal health, and higher market competitiveness.

The launch was also attended by Canadian Ambassador to Ethiopia David Usher, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and several Ethiopian government institutes.

©Manuel Odeny

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations offers US$3 million grant for Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa

Farmers in Africa ploughing using oxen. Bio-technology though ignored can boost food productivity in the continent. PHOTO: Internet Sources.  

ACCRA: 2 May 2012 by AATF

The Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) today announced it had received a grant of US$3 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand its work. The announcement was made during the Forum’s fifth anniversary celebrations in Accra, Ghana. The initiative set up in 2006, aims to enhance knowledge-sharing and awareness on biotechnology and to contribute to building an enabling environment for decision making on agricultural biotechnology in Africa.

“Biotechnology has delivered substantial benefits to farmers around the world but Africa still lags behind in exploiting its potential partly due to lack of an enabling environment for the development and use of agricultural biotechnology,” said Hon Sherry Ayittey, Ghana’s Minister for Environment, Science and Technology in her address during the Forum’s fifth anniversary celebration in Accra, Ghana.

“Discussions over agricultural biotechnology and its application are surrounded by misperceptions due to lack of or conflicting information,” she continued. “This is a challenge that decision makers who must make the right decisions in the face of a rapidly growing population, declining agricultural productivity and reduced resources available for agricultural research continue to face,” she added.

Over the past 20 years, agricultural biotechnology has made a positive impact on poverty reduction and hunger in the developing world, but mainly in Asia and Latin America. Sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population of 800 million in 2007, continues to register low farm productivity even as two-thirds of its population lives in rural areas and depend on agriculture for survival. The region has the world's largest concentration of people who go to bed hungry every day - estimated at a third of the population.

“OFAB addresses the existing biotechnology information gaps and concerns by facilitating the interaction of scientists involved in biotechnology research with journalists, policy makers, civil society, farmers and other stakeholders,” said Dr Denis Kyetere, the Executive Director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

“Over the last five years, we have seen discussions held at OFAB making input into Africa’s decision on how biotechnology can contribute to its food security and economic developmental goals, thus significantly contributing to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goal of reducing extreme poverty and hunger by half by 2015,” said Dr Kyetere.

OFAB was initiated by AATF and is currently being implemented in five African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana in collaboration with like-minded partners. OFAB plans to open a sixth country chapter in 2012. OFAB partners in the countries include the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA-Africenter) in Kenya; the Uganda Council of Science and Technology (UNCST), the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), Nigeria’s National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana.

“Effective development and use of new technologies require an enabling environment that will improve understanding, contribute to the process of formulation of relevant policies and laws and ultimately support the adoption and use of these technologies by small-scale farmers across Africa,” said Dr Salifu, the Director General of CSIR, Ghana.

“Through the forum, the scientists get the much needed chance to impact policy makers on the need to mainstream science and technology into Africa’s development agenda and back that with adequate funds for research and development,” said Dr Salifu.

Currently, OFAB operates through holding of monthly meetings in the different countries, where topics of interest in agricultural biotechnology are presented and discussed. The principal areas of discussions during the meetings include those specific to understanding agricultural biotechnology in general and how it applies to Sub-Saharan Africa, updating stakeholders on biotechnology project developments and discussing enabling factors such as intellectual property management, liability, seed systems and commercialisation.

“OFAB has played, and will continue to play, a key role in improving public awareness on biotechnology in Africa,” said Dr Kyetere. “This funding will go a long way to support the current activities of OFAB and also enable the chapters to expand their activities outside their current monthly meetings to cover a wider geographical scope within the country and organize targeted biotech communication events for specific categories of stakeholders” he added. The expansion of OFAB activities will contribute to the attainment of the overall goal of creating an enabling environment for agricultural biotechnology.

In order to create the necessary enabling environment, policy makers and the people they serve need to have the right information on agricultural biotechnology to inform decision making and subsequent action. Currently, the biotechnology debate is characterised by scientific facts which are often mixed with environmental, health, social-ethical and political considerations. This complicates matters for these key decision makers often resulting in development of negative perceptions of biotechnology and mis-informed discussions.

“OFAB strives to ensure that policy makers, farmers and agricultural stakeholders have clear and well-structured information on biotechnology that shows that agricultural biotechnology has an important and useful role to play in enhancing food security and creating wealth,” said Dr Peter Ndemere, the Executive Secretary of UNCST and chair of the OFAB-Uganda chapter.

Lessons and experience gained during the five years that OFAB has been in operation point to the potential that it offers in creating better understanding and appreciation of agricultural biotechnology in SSA to address biotechnology information needs of policy makers and the general public.

“We have seen OFAB contribute to informing policy decisions on biotechnology through the provision of a platform for highly interactive discussions on biotechnology including discussions on regulations and biosafety laws” said Dr Margaret Karembu, the chair of the OFAB-Kenya chapter.

OFAB in Nigeria has grown and is recognised as a key awareness and information sharing forum with increased calls for its work to be expanded to cover the countryside. “It has served as a key platform for informing various stakeholders on the importance, content, and impacts of the country’s biosafety bill,” said Prof Bamidele Solomon, the OFAB-Nigeria chairman. “We see OFAB continuing to play this role in the countries that are in the process of passing their bills and those that have already passed them to support the commercialisation and use of biotech crops,” he added.

There has been increased policy maker public pronouncements on the benefits of biotechnology. Hosted by NABDA, OFAB has acted as the agricultural biotechnology stakeholders’ convening body, bringing stakeholders together through provision of a discussion platform and sharing of updates on key developments. The Chapter continues to host high level government officials from key ministries such as agriculture, science and technology, environment, information and communications including members of parliament during presentation of topical issues relevant to their ministries.

According to Dr Hassan Mshinda, the chair of the OFAB-Tanzania chapter, “the enactment of enabling biosafety bills will allow for the testing and delivery of agricultural biotechnology tools that will ultimately benefit farmers in SSA. Our farmers need to access innovative technologies to address their agricultural productivity constraints and consequently play a role in enhancing food security and creating wealth for their families and nations. Such technologies are currently out of their reach due to inadequate information on their use and adoption.”

“OFAB’s vision is for an Africa in which agricultural biotechnology makes a significant contribution to enhanced food security and wealth creation,” said Dr Kyetere. “To help realise this vision, OFAB seeks to build an effective, trustworthy and responsive platform for society to make informed decisions on safety and appropriateness of the application of agricultural biotechnology.”

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About AATF (www.aatf-africa.org)
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates and promotes public/private partnerships for the access and delivery of appropriate proprietary agricultural technologies for use by resource-poor smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

About OFAB (www.ofabafrica.org)
The Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) is a platform that provides an opportunity for biotechnology stakeholders to network, share knowledge and experiences, and explore new avenues of bringing the benefits of biotechnology to the African farmer and investor

Guest Blogger: Carbide used to ripen bananas causing cancer scare by Aquinas Nyakundi

Photo: Courtesy

I received an email earlier about the use of carbide in ripening banana away from the natural cycle so as to attract more customers and reap maximum profit i  would wish to share.

Have you ever wondered where some vendors selling sweet bananas like the ones using wheelbarrows on Nairobi's Airport North-Ring road roundabouts source them in such huge supply and uniform ripeness!

Some readers who love bananas and eat a lot of them needed to realize that the bananas available in the market are 'forced ripe' by dipping in water mixed with Carbide. 

The consumption of these bananas is 100% sure to cause Cancer or some other infection in the stomach. Therefore, such type of bananas is to be avoided.

But, how does one recognize the bananas ripened with the help of Carbide?

Bananas which are ripened naturally are dark yellow and there are small black spots here and there on the bananas and the stalks are black. While those which are forced ripe with Carbide are lemon yellow and their stalks are green and moreover they are clear yellow without any black spots.

Now, what is Carbide and how is it harmful?

Carbide is a chemical which if mixed with water, emits heat and the heat emitted by a Close tank mixed with Carbide is even more than that emitted by a LPG Cylinder, so much so it can be used for Gas Cutting (which means the calorific value is so high that it can replace LPG gas).

In the same way, when the bunch of bananas is dipped in the water mixed with Carbide, the gas gets absorbed into the bananas and they get ripe.

However, the banana vendors are not that literate and so they do not know the exact proportion of Carbide to be used for a dozen of bananas.

As a result they end up using excess quantity of Carbide which gets absorbed into the bananas and ultimately enters our stomach. Due to this excess use of Carbide, tumors can be formed in our digestive system.

Aquinas Nyakundi is a graduate of Communication and Media Tech from Maseno University in Kenya. He is a journalist based in Kisii running an agriculture based blog: Small-Scale Farming Commercialize