Nutrition and food security impacts of quality seeds of biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato: Quasi-experimental evidence from Tanzania

Shikuku, Kelvin Mashisia; Okello, Julius Juma; Wambugu, Stella; Sindi, Kirimi; Low, Jan; McEwan, M.

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104646

Cited by 22 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Current efforts to fight malnutrition in developing countries emphasize the use of nutrition-sensitive agricultural approaches (Ruel et al 2013;Shikuku et al 2019). One such approach that has gained prominence in the development literature is the biofortification of major food staples with essential micronutrients (Bansode and Kumar 2015;Bouis et al 2017;Pinstrup-Andersen 2013;Ram et al 2016;Pingali and Sunder 2017).…”

Section: The Study Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Behavioral Intervention Increases Consumption of a New Biofortified Food by School Children: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Nigeria

et al. 2021

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Children’s diets can have major implications for a wide range of diseases and their development outcomes. In Africa, micronutrient deficiency remains a major challenge and affects the health and development of vulnerable populations, especially children. A major effort to combat micronutrient deficiency has targeted biofortification of staple foods, with greatest potential being registered in the enrichment of, among others, sweetpotato with beta carotene—a precursor for vitamin A. However, overcoming vitamin A deficiency is made all the more complicated by children’s general resistance to unfamiliar foods. We report the results of a field experiment in Nigerian schools designed to use behavioral techniques to promote consumption of an unfamiliar food: the pro-vitamin A rich orange-fleshed sweetpotato. We find that children eat more, on average, when the sweetpotato is introduced alongside behavioral nudges such as songs or association with aspirational figures. These results appear to conform to results found in a developed country context.

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Section: The Study Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Behavioral Intervention Increases Consumption of a New Biofortified Food by School Children: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Nigeria

et al. 2021

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“…Biofortified varieties of root, tuber, and banana crops can make direct contributions to achieving the SDGs by improving the nutrition of vulnerable groups, especially expectant and lactating women and children under the age of 5 years, for example orange-fleshed sweetpotato ( Shikuku et al, 2019 ), and golden banana ( Paul et al, 2018 ). However, it cannot be assumed that these groups automatically benefit from the general availability of these varieties, thus seed delivery will need to be accompanied by a series of enabling measures.…”

Section: Addressing Seed System Gaps In Vpcsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Breaking through the 40% adoption ceiling: Mind the seed system gaps.” A perspective on seed systems research for development in One CGIAR

et al. 2021

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Seed systems research is central to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Improved varieties with promise for ending hunger, improving nutrition, and increasing livelihood security may be released, but how do they reach and benefit different types of farmers? Without widespread adoption the genetic gains achieved with improved crop varieties can never be actualized. Progress has been made toward demand responsive breeding, however the draft CGIAR 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy fails to recognize the complexity of seed systems and thus presents a narrow vision for the future of seed systems research. This points to the lack of evidence-based dialogue between seed systems researchers and breeders. This perspective paper presents findings from an interdisciplinary group of more than 50 CGIAR scientists who used a suite of seed systems tools to identify four knowledge gaps and associated insights from work on the seed systems for vegetatively propagated crops (VPCs), focusing on bananas (especially cooking bananas and plantains), cassava, potato, sweetpotato, and yam. We discuss the implications for thinking about and intervening in seed systems using a combined biophysical and socioeconomic perspective and how this can contribute to increased varietal adoption and benefits to farmers. The tools merit wider use, not only for the seed systems of VPCs, but for the seed of crops facing similar adoption challenges. We argue for deeper collaboration between seed systems researchers, breeders and national seed system stakeholders to address these and other knowledge gaps and generate the evidence and innovations needed to break through the 40% adoption ceiling for modern varieties, and ensure good quality seed once the new varieties have been adopted. Without this, the achievements of breeders may remain stuck in the seed delivery pipeline.

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“…Despite progress, micronutrient-deficiency related malnutrition still remains a major concern in SSA. Among these, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) can lead to eye damage and xeropthalmia (leading to night blindness), weakened immunity, and general increase in the incidence and severity of infectious diseases and mortality (Schmitz et al 2012;Low et al 2017;Shikuku et al 2019). VAD has also been linked to birth-related deaths among pregnant women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects and drivers of participation in agriculture-nutrition-health interventions: Experiences from a biofortified sweetpotato project

Okello¹,

Bocher²,

Low³

et al. 2021

Development in Practice

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This study assessed effects and drivers of mother-child pair participation in agriculture-nutrition-health linkage projects. Data were collected from 2,271 households in Kenya. Three categories of participation regime were defined: none, partial and full participation. Bivariate analyses and multinomial-logit regression were used to assess the effects and drivers of participation, respectively. Results found higher diet quality and consumption of vitamin A foods, and more frequent visits to ante-natal clinics, among full participants. Regression results showed that partial and full participation decreased with the caregivers' age, deincentivisation of community health workers and health facility linkage, but increased with dependency ratio and wealth.

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Nutrition and food security impacts of quality seeds of biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato: Quasi-experimental evidence from Tanzania

Cited by 22 publications

References 64 publications

A Behavioral Intervention Increases Consumption of a New Biofortified Food by School Children: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Nigeria

A Behavioral Intervention Increases Consumption of a New Biofortified Food by School Children: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Nigeria

“Breaking through the 40% adoption ceiling: Mind the seed system gaps.” A perspective on seed systems research for development in One CGIAR

Effects and drivers of participation in agriculture-nutrition-health interventions: Experiences from a biofortified sweetpotato project

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