Building the Evidence Base & Varieties to Achieve Impact with Vitamin A rich sweetpotato

MARIA ANDRADE

Foundation Day and Consultation on Farming System for NutritionMSSRF, Chennai August 7-9, 2017

Out of a world population of 7 BILLION

• About 2 BILLION suffer from micronutrient deficiency

• About 800 MILLION suffer from calory deficiency

About 70% of African make a living through agriculture

Most farmers are smallholders, poor & malnourished

To feed 9 billion humans who’ll be living on Earth in 35 years

We need to double the amount of food available on less land

Progress made in Africa, challenges of diet-relatedpremature death, poor development and disease remain.

In Mozambique, 43 percent of children under five arestunted due to chronic illness and poor diets.

Only one out of every 10 children under two receive thesufficient nutrients they need to be able to grow anddevelop to their full potential.Alone, child undernutrition costs the country 62 billionMZN, or 11 percent of its annual GDP in Mozambique.Progress has been slow, especially in light of recognition bygovernment that nutrition matters.

Our focus must shift from feeding people to nourishingthem.In doing so, we must harness the power of the public andprivate sectors, and civil society to encourage and enableconsumers to access better diets.It is imperative therefore that policy makers pay moreattention to food systems if nutrition planning is to beeffectively implemented.The reality is complex.

Drought is a problem 1. Integrate and align water and soil management

strategies to maximize response to drought together with breeding effort for nutrient dense crop

2. Promoting water conservation and more resilient water supplies

3. Improve nutrient and water supplies where yields are lowest

Use Resources more efficientlyImprove the resilience of the native biodiversity

Improve seeds, private sector investment, training1.

Elimination of hunger and malnutrition require more than transforming the production of food

• There is need to assist small holder farmers to build resilience to natural disaster and climate change

• Use of advances in science and technology to boost yields

• Make partner with the private sector to reach the market

• Strengthening in breaking through technologies such as climate resilient seeds, cultural management and improve communication

Some general facts – of SweetpotatoIn few countries a staple - in many countries secondary

30 countries are producing 99% of the total world sweetpotato production – but sweetpotato is produced in more than 110 countries of the world

Sweetpotato produces more food calories per unit area per unit time than any other crop

15 t/ha (poor soils) to 25 t/ha (good soils are possible with currently available varieties Live saver or poor man’s crops / an image that is gradually changing nowadays. Classic food securityIncredible amount of genetic diversity

Mashed OFSP – for puree and or for bread production

Need 1: The moist sweet to high dry matter early bulking OFSP (Tumwegamire et al. 2016)Need 2: The animal feed SP in Asia and parts of SSANeed 3: Non-sweet sweetpotato -> taste like potatoNeed 4: Ready to eat (gari, porridges ) in mixture

New Uses & Markets => more / different needs from breeding

Bread made with a ratio of 66% wheat flour and 34% mashed OFSP in Mozambique 2009 => bio / fortified bread

Selection for long stems & leaves (China 2008) – appears like young bean pods

– Uganda 2008

sweetpootato as animal feed (Java / Indonesia 2014 – a cheap fodder crop)

Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP): The Model for Biofortified Crops with a

Visible Trait

* Higher yielding* Rich in Beta-Carotene* Earlier maturing

§All types good sources of vitamins C, K, E and several B §Most varieties in SSA white-fleshed: no beta-carotene§100 gms (one small root) meets daily vitamin A needs ofa young child

Evidence at the Community Level: OFSP contributed 35% of vitamin A intake 15% decline in prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in under 5s

Investing in Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP):

Was it Worth the Investment?An Experience of 20 Years

1997-1999Adaptation trials of first generation (68 clones)

April 19991st multi-sectorial meeting where spoke on the potential of OFSP

June 19991st strategy to fight the deficiencies of Micronutrients

Opportunity of Development Emerging from Disaster (floods of 2000

2000Release of 9 varieties 1st

generation

2000-2002Distribution after flood to 120,000 HHs

2003-2006Integration into development programs for dissemination (700,000 HHs)

1st Nutrition Sensitization Campaign

Intensive Research & Discovering the Need to Initiate a Breeding Program in Mozambique

2003-2005Towards Sustainable Nutritional Improvement (TSNI) study in Zambézia:

Demonstrated the effectiveness of integrated nutrition-agriculture intervention Using OFSP

2005Severe drought , 2/3 of the country affected. More than 50% of sweetpotatolost (both white & orange)

DROUGHT

2003-2004Problems of localized drought:started looking for fund to initiate a breeding program in the country

The Breeding Program with Emphasis on Selecting Material Tolerant to Drought &

Rich in pro-Vitamin A

2006-2010Develop new varieties of OFSPMore adapted to Mozambican conditions

N

4 years instead of 8 years!1) Exploit the characteristics of a vegetative propagated crop 2) More sites, earlier in the process3) NIRS machine to evaluate nutritional quality of each sample in 2 minutes 3) Evaluate 5,000 clones annually per site

N New methodologyAccelerated

B Breeding

2007-2010Intensive study Reaching End Users in Zambézia:How to reach many HHs in a cost effective way

A Great Result: 15 New drought tolerant OFSP Varieties

Released in February 2011

Result ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The material is from Mozambique but also will

help other African countries

SEVEN MORE RELEASED IN 2016

Breeding in Africa for Africa§ "Accelerated" sweetpotato breeding approach to

produce varieties in 3-4 years instead of 7-8 years§ By 2016, 42 OFSP varieties bred in Africa released

being 20 released in Mozambique

The Speedbreeders at crossing block

A controlled cross

Storage root yield (t/ha) on dry matter basis

Fe and Zn increments in MT15; trial planted in September 2015 EC – experimental clone; ICHECK –international check; LCHECK – local check

UMIRR2015BUMDT2015B

1.7

1.9

1.5

1.8

2.0

1.6

Clones

Fe

ECICHECKLCHECK

UMIRR2015B

1.1

UMDT2015B

1.3

1.2

1.0

0.9

Clones

Zn

LCHECKICHECKEC

Seed systems: Net tunnels,

Animal feed: >Silage tube>Dual purpose varieties

Linking women groups to processors:

Linking health, nutrition and agriculture: Western Kenya

Examples of Delivery Systems

Triple S (store/sand/sprout

Technology impact beyond borders: true seed and vines:True botanical seed were shared with 19 NARS in Southern-, East and Central- & West Africa and South East Asia

DIFFUSION OF OFSP VINES IN MOZAMBIQUE: CIP & PARTNERS

MaleheadedHH

FemaleheadedHH

Totaldirectbeneficiaries

MaleheadedHH

FemaleheadedHH

Totalindirectbeneficiaries

OFDA/USAIDBilateral

97664 52588 150252 195328 105176 300504

OFDA-New 14087 7585 21672 28174 15170 43344VISTA 27578 9193 36771 55157 18386 73542NIASSA-OFSP 25559 3485 29044 76676 10456 87132SUSTAIN 35640 8360 44000 71280 16720 88000

Total ALL 200528 81211 281739 426614 165908 592522

Directbeneficiaries Indirectbeneficiaries

December2011-July2017

Country Project(s)

MOZ

ProportionofFemaleHeadedHouseholdsOverallHouseholdReachedProportionFarmer-basedHouseholdsGrowigOFSPinMozbyJuly2017

28%87426123%

Resilient OFSP. The two crops planted the first cropping season in Maniquenique station, Chibuto district, Gaza Province, October 25, 2016

17 priority countries,

3 sub-regions

2.9 million Households reached by Sept 2016

12 withActivity under SPHI Umbrella

How are we Going to Disseminate an OFSP toHave Impact in the Nutritional State (VAD)?

TSNI Study (Towards Sustainable Nutritional Improvement)

Find if it is possíble to have an impact at the level of uptake of vitamin A and nutritional status of the child through the introduction of OFSP varieties combined with an intensive program of demand creation of food rich in in vitamin A and to change food habit in children under 5 years

Access to ImprovedPlanting Material

Buy more Vitamin-A-RichFoods & Health Services

Vitamin A Deficiency & Low Caloric Intake in Young ChildrenConceptual Framework

Increase Young ChildFeeding Frequency

EmpowermentThrough

Knowledge

Substitute white-fleshed with

orange fleshed, beta-carotene rich varieties

Earn income from

sales of roots & processed products

Produce more Calories & Beta-Carotene per hectare

Improved agronomic practices to assure year-round supply

Effectivefeeding

practices developed viaconsultative

research

Mediacampaign

to increasedemand forvitamin A rich foods

Enhanced Purchasing

Power

Increase Young Child Intake of Calories & Vitamin A

Improve Young Child Vitamin A Status

Deworming

There was significant impact in the adoption of OFSP, the level of vitamin A consumption & the level of

vitamin A in the body (blood)

§ Median intake of vitamin A was 8 times higher in the children under intervention when compared with control § OFSP contributed 35% of vitamin A intake and 6% of energy. § Decreased of 15% in the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency (indicated by low level of serum retinol)

Low, JW et al., Journal of Nutrition 137: 1320-1327, 2007

Demand creation

COMMUNITY THEATER

PROMOTION LINKED TO COMMERCIALIZATION

IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE MEN

PROCESSED PRODUCTS

Visit of USA former Deputy-Secretary of State, Mr. Thomas R. Nides

IMPACT OF OFSP IN MOZAMBIQUE: NUTRITION & HEALTH ISSUES

▼ About 100,000 women trained on the SP agro-processing and nutrition messaging During the harvesting season, OFSP consumed 2-3 a week

▼ Overall, score of six (6) and above indicates adequacy nutrient intake, while below four (<4) is associated with poor dietary diversity, 4-5 is a medium dietary diversity. Thus, jump from medium to adequate nutrient intake

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0

Maputo

Gaza

Inhambane

Manica

Sofala

Zambezia

Overall

Endline HDDS (N=283)

Baseline HDDS (N=276)

May the Passion continue

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