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Promoting the production and marketing of orange fleshed sweet potato through capacity building of rural farmers in western Kenya

University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf, Germany

Abstract

Orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) is a sweet potato cultivar that is a leading case of a vitamin A product that is promoted and embraced by the target cooperative society in Western Kenya. It has better agronomic and nutritional traits, including faster maturity, high yield potential, and endowed with rich nutrients. About 60% of the households in the Western region live below the poverty line. Thus, production and marketing of OFSP has the potential to contribute to food security, increased incomes, and reduction of nutritional deficit that are poverty related. However, OFSP production and marketing are yet to be fully utilised in the region. Production is limited since it is currently being done by a cooperative society but not with the entire community despite the premium benefits associated with it. There is an established market of Organi Limited that process the sweet potato into bread and buns for sale in the local supermarkets. Additionally, there is an upcoming factory being constructed at the nearby county offering further markets for OFSP. There is therefore need to sensitize the community to adopt the production of this variety to provide raw materials for the two factories. This project intends to address the following objectives: provision of capacity building to the local farmers in identified locations to improve OFSP production; and to link the producing farmers to the readily available markets. These will be achieved by community mobilisation, sensitisation, and capacity building on the benefits associated with orange fleshed sweet potato production and commercialisation, this will help in advancing marketing of OFSP leading to achieving the universal goals. This will provide employment opportunity to the local farmers, improve nutrition and income hence reducing poverty.

Keywords: Capacity building, marketing, orange fleshed sweet potato, production

Contact Address: Justus Ochieng, University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf, Triesdorf, Germany, e-mail: justusochieng3gmail.com