Sweetpotato for Health and Wealth in Nigeria Underway

This flyer provides details about the objectives, activities, achievements and the future plans of the ‘Sweetpotato for Health and Wealth’ in Nigeria project. The project plans to establish committed Decentralized Vine Multipliers (DVMs) to increase access to quality vines to at least 17,500 households by 2019 in Nassarawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kwara, and Osun states, especially those with children below five years of age and women of reproductive age

Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato on the home grownschool feeding menu in Nigeria

Sweetpotato for health and wealth in Nigeria and Jumpstarting OFSP in West Africa for diversified markets are two projects that focus on development of the value chain for health and wealth of the rural households in Nigeria, working in Osun and Kwara states. Out of search for OFSP demand at the formal sector, inclusion in the school feeding menu was conceived. The flyer presents the stages of inception, advocacy and sensitization that resulted in the inclusion of OFSP in the School Feeding Program in Osun State, as well as the achievements made between June 2014 and July 2015, and plans for scaling up

Appropriate Post-Harvest Technologies for Biofortified Crops Pro Enhanced Utilization, Value Addition, and Micronutrient Retention

Biofortified cassava and sweet potato, targeted for vitamin A deficiency reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa, are highly perishable at post-harvest. Appropriate technologies for processing these crops should primarily be protective of their micronutrients otherwise the purpose of their biofortification is defeated. One of the value-added OFSP root products is the puree, which several techniques have been developed for its consistent quality, preservation and packaging. However, use of aseptic packaging and continuous flow microwave system of rapid sterilization have been reported most suitable, for its high temperatures (≥125°C) and short time principle. For biofortified cassava varieties, post-harvest advances have been on drying, moving from sun drying on bare floor to use of raised platform, solar and mechanical drying. Flash-drying technology is an effective and efficient drying technology that uses rapid heat transfer, which makes it suitable for biofortified cassava. With these advanced technologies, OFSP puree, wet or dried and flash-dried biofortified cassava mash can be targeted for diverse end uses in the food industry-baby foods, jam, pastries, and confectionaries. These technologies, with increased adoption through favorable policies, can enhance availability of diverse nutritious food products, utilization, consumption, and commercialization of locally produced staples, for improved food system transformation

Carotenoid stability during storage of yellow gari made from biofortified cassava or with palm oil

The carotenoid composition of gari made from biofortified cassava (BG) was compared to that of existing gari of similar appearance but made from white cassava with added red palm oil (RPG). Storage of both yellow gari products was modelled at ambient temperatures typical of tropical areas (19-40 °C) over a 3 month-period at constant relative humidity. Carotenoid content and hence vitamin A activity of the gari products decreased markedly with time and temperature. Trans-β-carotene degradation fitted well the kinetics predicted by the Arrhenius model, in particular for BG. Activation energies for trans-β-carotene were 60.4 and 81.0 kJ.mol−1 for BG and RPG respectively (R2 = 0.998 and 0.997 respectively): hence the minimum energy to cause degradation of trans-β-carotene in gari was lower with BG. Rates of degradation of 9-cis β-carotene in gari were of the same order as with trans-β-carotene. Although the initial content of trans-β-carotene was twice as high in the BG compared to RPG, trans-β-carotene in BG degraded much faster. Results showed that the average shelf life at ambient temperature for BG was significantly shorter than for RPG and therefore carotenoids in BG were less stable than in RPG