Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most damaging forms of undernourishment. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), 43 million children under the age of five are vitamin A deficient. Every year, more than 4.8 million children in the region die before the age of five. During the past decade, considerable investments have been made to build the evidence base to show that pro-vitamin A rich, orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) can be a costeffective means to combat vitamin A deficiency in children under five years of age. OFSP has shown to be an extremely rich source of bio-available pro-vitamin A, which is largely retained when the sweetpotato is boiled, steamed or roasted. Research has demonstrated that young children can meet their daily vitamin A requirements from just one medium-size sweetpotato root. Evidence from research confirms higher adoption rates and greater increases in vitamin A intake among young children and women of reproductive age when agricultural interventions are combined with nutrition and behaviour change communication and market facilitation. Lessons from various projects indicate that the time is ripe to invest in larger programmes that are adequately resourced and are able to realize the potential benefits from OFSP in fighting vitamin A deficiency and hunger. The Reaching Agents of Change (RAC) project, implemented by the International Potato Center (CIP) and Helen Keller International, advocates for increased investment in OFSP to combat vitamin A deficiency among young children and women of reproductive age. RAC also builds the institutional capacity to design and implement gender-sensitive projects to ensure wide access and utilization of OFSP in SSA. Discussions with regional advocates and champions identified a strategic role that regional economic communities and their member states could play in promoting investments in OFSP through agriculture investment plans informed by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). However, potential investors often raised questions regarding what it would take to invest, how much to invest and how to invest in order to improve food and nutritional security, reduce vitamin A deficiency and increase incomes of rural households. RAC leadership decided to develop the OFSP investment guides to help investors and project implementers dealing with OFSP to answer these questions. The decision tool was developed through an extensive consultative process that included key stakeholders in SSA. In developing the investment guide products, the RAC team first produced a draft, which it presented to the RAC champions and advocates for comments. Later, RAC engaged a high calibre consultant to help repackage the information gathered and produce targeted investment guide products. This package of investment guides comprises three products-an investment guide, an implementation guide and a summary (each with PowerPoint presentations for the online version). The decision tool comes complete with an interactive Excel budget calculator. In working out the ...
Thanks to Miles Brendin of Well Told Story for guiding the RAC team to transform learning to lessons learned, Christine Bukania and Kellen Kebaara for assisting with the editing and layout of this booklet, and the Communications and Public Awareness Department in CIP-Lima for support in designing the cover.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with governments, businesses and civil society, we aim to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious food for all people, especially the most vulnerable. ABOUT HARVESTPLUSHarvestPlus is a CGIAR research programme which aims to improve nutrition and public health by developing and promoting biofortified food crops that are enriched with nutrients. Founded in 2003 and hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC, HarvestPlus provides global leadership on biofortification evidence, technology, and policy.
Agriculture and rural development form the bedrock for effective development in Kenya, where about 80% of the farmers are smallholders. Small-scale farmers face many challenges in harnessing knowledge and information from appropriate sources. To help address the problems, and facilitate participation, sharing and exchange of knowledge and information, there is a need to understand the agricultural knowledge and information systems of small-scale farmers. This paper examines how key agricultural actors in Kirinyaga district, Kenya support sharing and exchange of agricultural knowledge and information. The paper is based on a study that adopts a triangulation of qualitative, quantitative and participatory methodologies and methods for sampling, data collection and data analysis. The methods combine Relaxed Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems and Participatory Rural Appraisal; questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions; case studies; observation and analysis of secondary data. Preliminary results suggest that richer and deeper data is collected through mixed methodologies and methods. The study points to the need to strengthen and formalise linkages between farmers, researchers, extensionists, educators, farmers' groups, private sector, input stockists, microfinance institutions, media and civil society organisations.
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