Potential of Orange-fleshed Sweet Potatoes for Raising Vitamin A Intake in Africa

AbstractIn rural Nigeria, most households cannot afford food products rich in vitamin A which gave rise to the introduction of bio-fortified agricultural produces. One of these is the Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP). Although introduced about six years ago, empirical evidence as regards the actual level of adoption as well as its effect on their productivity remains relatively scarce. The analysis was built on a field survey of 183 smallholders in Kwara State, Nigeria conducted in the year 2016. Tobit model and the Heckman’s two stage models were used to model the determinants the intensity of cultivation and the effect of OFSP’s cultivation on the income of the smallholders. Results indicate that almost 87% of the smallholders sampled were into the cultivation of OFSP with 56% of them cultivating it solely for family consumption and its nutritional value. Also, 44% of them put less than half a hectare of their farmland to the cultivation of OFSP. The result showed that aged smallholders, members of cooperative groups and those who cultivate OFSP solely have a smaller proportion of their farmland cultivated to OFSP. Similarly, the age of the smallholders, household size, years of schooling, cost of production were the factors that significantly influence the cultivation OFSP on the income of the smallholders. The policy implication of this is that the potentials of OFSP have to be promoted particularly among the rural smallholders most especially through the existing cooperative groups. This can either be through organized seminars or specifically through demonstration plots.

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Orange fleshed sweet potato a nutrition sensitive functional food for possible dietary approach to vitamin A deficiency and undernutrition

World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews ◽

10.30574/wjarr.2021.12.3.0520 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 645-651

Author(s):

Jyotsna Khanam ◽

Sheikh Faisal Asadullah Mahdi ◽

Monera Ahsan ◽

Sheikh Nazrul Islam

Keyword(s):

Vitamin A ◽

Vitamin A Deficiency ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Sweet Potatoes ◽

Carotene Content ◽

Sensitive Function ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Nutrition Sensitive ◽

Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato ◽

Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes

Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSPs) is an excellent nutrition sensitive function food. It contains dense amount of carotene and is also rich in proximate nutrients. A wide number of cultivars of OFSPs has been developed worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In Bangladesh, sixteen cultivars have been developed. Carotene content in the OFSPs surpasses all of the plant food carotene. OFSPs also contains good content of energy yielding nutrients. The Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes could, therefore, be a potential dietary approach to address the vitamin A deficiency for undernourished indigent people.

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The Value of a Nutritionally Enhanced Staple Crop: Results from a Choice Experiment Conducted with Orange-fleshed Sweet Potatoes in Mozambique

Journal of African Economies ◽

10.1093/jae/ejq007 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 536-558 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

A. T. A. Naico ◽

J. L. Lusk

Keyword(s):

Choice Experiment ◽

Sweet Potatoes ◽

Staple Crop ◽

Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes

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Vitamin A and B Content of Canned Sweet Potatoes

Experimental Biology and Medicine ◽

10.3181/00379727-26-4245 ◽

1928 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 254-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. N. Blackberg

Keyword(s):

Vitamin A ◽

Sweet Potatoes

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Combatting Vitamin A deficiency

World Nutrition ◽

10.26596/wn.201782151-206 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 151 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ted H Greiner

Keyword(s):

Vitamin A ◽

Vitamin A Deficiency ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Point Of View ◽

Preschool Age ◽

High Dose ◽

Sample Sizes ◽

Sweet Potatoes ◽

Target Groups ◽

Wide Range

Food-based approaches to combat vitamin A deficiency (VAD) continue to be largely ignored by governments and donor agencies. This review deals with common misperceptions as well as constraints that may lay behind this reality. First, high-dose vitamin A capsules provided to preschool age children are no solution for VAD. Second, researchers may assume that it is not possible to standardize foods adequately to study their efficacy in controlled trials. This review summarizes the results of 57 such trials, providing an overview that may assist researchers in making decisions on target groups to study, types of food supplements to provide, quantities, supplementation periods, impacts that are realistic to expect, and sample sizes. Even more complex is to design efficacy trials or impact evaluations of interventions. Again, the paper reviews 40 such trials, providing summary information on approaches, target groups, sample sizes, periods of intervention, and impacts measured using a variety of indicators. There are a number of barriers or constraints that must be planned for and overcome if food-based approaches are to work. This paper reviews several of the most important ones, briefly touching on many of the most effective ways that have been found to overcome them. Food-based approaches can reach all members of the community, are safe for pregnant women, tend to be at least partially sustainable, and confer a wide range of nutritional and other benefits in addition to improving vitamin A status. Food-based approaches are sometimes described as expensive, but this is based on a narrow view. For example, biofortification and dissemination of sweet potatoes cost $9 to $30 per disability-life-year (DALY) gained, while that from VAS was estimated at the estimated cost effectiveness of VAS is $73 per DALY gained. From the community point of view, the economic benefits of food based approaches are likely to subsidize or outweigh their costs.

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