In Kenya, Sweet Potatoes are often regarded as a poor person’s crop, which has hindered their popularity. However, their ability to be grown as a secondary product, interspersed among different crops, makes them suitable for farming by women, who often disproportionately suffer the effects of poverty, and who tend to have poorer diets than men.
OFSP has a high sales value, and can be processed into flour, making it a profitable, as well as healthy and climate change tolerant plant. Global Footsteps’ work with the AWI will support the promotion of these sweet potatoes through the region, by creating groups of marketers and distributors who will set up demonstration plots to allow the local population to see how such a crop could benefit them. Training programmes on the use of and benefits of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes are to be established, many of which will be aimed at mothers, who will learn how the vegetables can improve their child’s development and their own health and fortune.
Global Footsteps is seeking to raise £55,000 to fund the project, which will be led by and for Kenyans, with our outside support. The monetary value of the Aniga Women’s contribution to running the project is £20,000.
For background information about the Farming for the Future project read this post.