About
VITAA
Vitamin A partnership for Africa (VITAA): combating Vitamin A deficiency through the increased use of orange-fleshed sweetpotato in sub-Saharan Africa
The Vitamin A for Africa (VITAA) is a partnership promoting the increased production and utilization of orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) to combat Vitamin A deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim is to make OFSP available on a large-scale, demonstrating the potential of crop-based approaches in alleviating micronutrient deficiency. OFSP contains beta-carotenes that can be converted easily by the human body to Vitamin A.VITAA recognizes OFSP as a promising solution to Vitamin A deficiency in Eastern and Southern Africa not just because they’re rich in beta-carotene, but because they're easy to grow and affordable to the average consumer. The partnership targets young children and their mothers, who are the most vulnerable to Vitamin A deficiency. FAO statistics show that of the 24,000 people who die everyday from the consequences of hunger, three-quarters are children under five (i.e. 18,000 children starve to death everyday). WHO reports that malnutrition is responsible for 54% of the major causes of under-five mortality rate (Booth et al 2001). In sub Saharan Africa alone 3 million children under the age of five suffer from Vitamin A related blindness. Studies have shown that addressing Vitamin A deficiency alone should reduce the overall mortality among children under six by nearly 23%. Ex –ante impact assessment study indicated that introducing the new high-beta carotene cultivars that meet local preferences would benefit an estimated 50 million children under age of six who are currently at risk in addition to significant benefits for childbearing women (Low et al, 2001). VITAA partners include: the national agricultural research institutes, health and nutrition agencies, NGOs, and community-based organizations (CBOs), and private businesses. Also the several networks working in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. Countries to-date include: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Ghana , Zambia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Malawi and Mozambique. Researchers in South Africa have concluded that adding as little as 120 grams of OFSP to the daily diet could eliminate or significantly reduce vitamin A deficiency in children (Paul J van Jaarsveld et al,.2005). Drying under shade of locally processed products retains high beta-carotenes, and extension life of fresh roots could go up to three months with significant amount of beta-carotene. The initial VITAA activities were supported by the generous contributions from CIDA, CIP, DFID, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Senior Family Fund, The Micronutrient Initiative, Senior Family, USAID- Africa Bureau, PRAPACE and SARRNET. For the past two years HarvestPlus challenge program through its reaching end-user component has been providing resources for the annual coordination meetings. Future plans include expanding the VITAA partnership to more countries and sectors, with large-scale dissemination of the varieties to all major sweetpotato producing and consuming countries in Africa. These efforts will be combined with institutional and capacity building and studies of traditional processing to improve beta-carotene retention. Work will continue on developing nutritional and agricultural training programmes for household decision-makers, community leaders, local educators and children.
Lessons learnt from the fields: African producers and consumers accept OFSP provided that they are starchy. There has been a scaling up in both the area and the amount of clean planting material that has been deployed in different countries. For instance available information from the East and Central African region alone estimates a total of over 30 million vine cuttings to have been distributed and planted by farmers. The adoption is higher if the OFSP finds ready markets, mainly as fresh roots and vines. There has been an increased farmers’ incomes through sale of planting material mainly in Western Kenya, Eastern and Central Uganda. In Uganda, a single farmer can earn about US $ 400 per month as a result of planting materials. These incomes generated have helped farmers to pay school fees for children and attend to many other family cores. Sweetpotato has proved to play a key role for households disrupted by HIV/AIDS and other disaster crises such as civil unrest and climatic changes. In Northern Uganda, where persisting violence has forced many farmers to live in protected camps and in Mozambique during the 2000 drought and floods, OFSP in both disaster scenario cases, has played a key role in food security, income generation and improving the nutrition of the internally displaced persons. Awareness campaigns and nutrition education in selected countries have demonstrated that farmers are thirsty for a positive change in production. These have led to creation of demand for more planting materials, new varieties and knowledge to diversify the utilization. Also the programme has received increased attention by the individual government authorities and decision makers at community level. Future challenges include: Large-scale dissemination of these noble varieties to all major sweetpotato producing and consuming countries in Africa. Increased efforts to support the nutrition studies to assess the impact of introducing OFSP in the HIV/AIDS communities. Conduct studies on the improvement of traditional processing studies for the beta-carotene retention. Expand the VITAA partnership to include more countries and sectors, institutional and capacity building in linking farmers to markets. Document and provide site specific information on seasonal availability of OFSP and the contribution of OFSP to vitamin A intake throughout the year. Conduct community level intervention studies to assess the impact of OFSP. Develop nutritional and agricultural training programmes for household decision- makers community leaders, local educators and children. Also develop training tools and materials in local languages
References:
Booth, S. L., T. Johns, and H. V. Kunlein. 2001. Natural food sources of Vitamin A and provitamin A. In: http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/8F14le/8F141E05.htm
Paul J van Jaarsveld, Mieke Faber, Sherry A Tanumihardjo, Penelope Nestel, Carl J Lombard, and Ambrose J Spinnler Benadé. 2005. Beta- Carotene–rich orange-fleshed sweet potato improves the vitamin A status of primary school children assessed with the modified-relative-dose-response test1–3. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:1080 –1087.
Kapinga, R. , M. Andrade, Lemaga, B., Gani, A., Crissman, C. and Mwanga, R. 2005. Role of orange-fleshed sweetpotato in disaster mitigation: Experiences from East and Southern Africa. In Tenywa, Adipala, Nampala, Tusime, Okori and Kyamuhangire ( eds.). African Crop Science Conference Proceedings. Pg: 1321- 1329. ISSN 1023-070X/ 2005.
Low, J., T. Walker, and R. Hijmans. 2001. The potential impact of orange-fleshed sweetpotato on Vitamin-A intake in su-Saharan Africa. . Paper presented at a Regional Workshop on Food Based Approaches to Human Nutritional Deficiencies: The VITAA Project, Vitamin A and Orange-fleshed sweetpotato in sub-Saharan Africa. May 9-11, 2001. Nairobi, Kenya
