Sara Quinn

Project manager of the 2019 Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Progress Report “Nourishing People and Planet Together”. The SUN Movement’s 61 countries and 4 Indian States share a commitment: to leave “egos and logos” behind, aligning efforts and working together to improve nutrition during the critical first 1000 days – from a mother’s pregnancy to her child’s second birthday. The Movement is built on government ownership and the understanding that factors underlying nutrition are interconnected. It is critical to bring actors together for impact at scale.

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Project manager of the 2017 CGIAR System Organization Performance Report “Transforming the Global Food System”. The report demonstrates the pivotal role that CGIAR’s 15 Research Centers collectively play in reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

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The 2016 CGIAR Annual Report demonstrates the pivotal role that CGIAR’s 15 Research Centers collectively play in reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

CGIAR is the largest global partnership addressing agricultural research for development.

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Harvesting nutrition along the sandy banks of the Brahmaputra River in the char lands of Bangladesh. The International Potato Center (CIP) are introducing orange fleshed sweetpotato as a resilient and nutritious food crop. Living in one of the most extreme environments in the world, these farmers live with the daily threat of flood, erosion and drought and so providing access to a crop which could provide both economic opportunities and nutritional benefits is a potential game changer for some of these farmers.

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International Potato Center Website

In Uganda green cooking banana is a choice crop for many farmers. A key ingredient in the traditional dish known as matoke the crop provides economic opportunity and nutritional benefits for many smallholder farmers in this part of the world. Annette Nabıgaga, is one such farmer. Her small parcel of land is situated in the green, lush valleys in the south west of the country. From her farm you can look out across the valleys ahead, dotted with the bright green of cooking banana trees. In this part of the country, the rains come thick and fast in the wet season, creating a lush and tropical environment. 

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In Uganda, (green) cooking banana is a staple item. An integral part of daily life, it is found in every marketplace and kitchen and is an important part of traditional family meals in households across the country. A source of food security, nutrition and wellbeing and offering livelihoods and economic opportunities to many, the cooking banana is a much loved crop that for many Ugandans has both economic importance and emotional meaning.

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ln Bangladesh, 40 percent of the country's 162 million people struggle with poverty and poor nutrition. An over-reliance on cereal-based diets contributes to significant micronutrient deficiencies and rates of under nutrition are among the highest in the world. While rice is an affordable staple food for the country’s poor, it lacks the vitamins and minerals that are essential for a healthy and balanced diet. It is with this in issue in mind that the International Potato Center (CIP) along with national partners is working to scale up the production and consumption of micronutrient-rich vegetables such as orange fleshed sweetpotato. Through a variety of approaches, CIP and its partners are working to improve nutrition and livelihoods and to provide communities with an improved ability to source and provide nutritious food at the household level.

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International Potato Center Website

Potato and Sweetpotato in Africa - Transforming the Value Chains for Food and Nutrition Security. Published by CABI. Editor

Sweetpotato and potato are expanding faster than any other food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. There is growing investment in research to address bottlenecks in value chains concerning these two crops, and growing interest from the private sector in investing in them. This book addresses five major themes on sweetpotato and potato: policies for germplasm exchange, food security and trade in Africa; seed systems; breeding and disease management; post-harvest management, processing technologies and marketing systems; nutritional value and changing behaviours.

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Can storage improve access to more profitable markets for small-scale farmers and traders in Uganda? 

In East Africa, farmers and traders have limited access to storage facilities and technology which can extend the shelf life of potato. Sprouting, rotting and loss of water in potato tubers all leads to physical and economic losses for both farmers and traders and so researchers are looking at storage options to help prolong shelf life and create more profitable markets

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Taste testing orange fleshed sweetpotato varieties in Malawi. 

Scaling up Sweetpotato through Agriculture and Nutrition (SUSTAIN) is a five-year partnership (2013-2018) coordinated by the International Potato Center (CIP) and financed by the UK Department for International Development to spread the nutrition benefits of biofortified OFSP to more farmers. The program aims to reach 1.2 million households with children under 5 years across four countries: Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda through mutually-reinforcing incentives to increase adoption of OFSP, consumption of Vitamin-A-rich foods, and diversification of OFSP utilization.

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International Potato Center Website

How the International Potato Center is applying science to impact livelihoods at the 7th Africa Agricultural Science Week in Kigali, Rwanda.

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International Potato Center Website

How one man is turning his passion for farming into a thriving business in Faridpur, Bangladesh. 

Jabbar Khan harvests on average between 160-180 kilograms of OFSP per decimal of land. He has found that OFSP is more profitable than other crops that he was growing and that on some crops he was actually making a loss as labor costs were high and demand was low. In particular rice has become very cheap on the market and so Jabbar Khan has really limited the amount which he grows.

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How staff are collaborating to create health for pigs and wealth for farmers in Uganda - 

Selecting the right variety of sweetpotato is important to ensure that yields are good and that the balance between vine and root production is right: "I think NASPOT 11 variety is the right choice for this project. Farmers will like the fact that it will produce lots of vines which they can turn into feed, as well as producing good tubers which can either be used for household consumption or taken to market. So farmers are getting two things here which we think they will be very happy with".

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Improving food security, nutrition and incomes of 10,000 small holder households in Kenya. 

Potato and sweetpotato are among the fastest expanding food crops in Kenya, used increasingly by smallholder farmers for food security and income. Both crops are relatively fast-maturing (4 months) and valued as reliable food security crops. Potato provides significant income opportunities for smallholder farmers and enriches diets with minerals and vitamins. Sweetpotato is known for its resilience and productivity across diverse agro-ecologies, ranging from high rainfall to semi-arid regions.

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International Potato Center Website

A nutritious and affordable feed option for pig farmers in Uganda - 

The project is investigating options for sweetpotato silage making and supplementation for small holder pig farmers in Uganda. Research is on potential business models to produce, conserve and commercialize sweetpotato-based feed and the team expects the research to transform production and utilization of sweetpotato vines and roots to lessen the constraint of livestock feed shortages for smallholder farmers in the country.

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Bringing nutritious, resilient orange fleshed sweetpotato into the kitchens and classrooms of Maputo. 

A large group of community members including teachers, parents and children from the local area have gathered to participate in this health education session on nutrition, cooking, healthy eating, sanitation and food preparation. OFSP is a key component of the education program today as a local community member and Zizile staff are going to teach us how to make OFSP bread – Mozambique style.

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International Potato Center Website

The role of planting material in the banana value chain in Uganda. 

Improving farmer access to planting material for cooking banana will improve the variety and quality of product available at market and provide a new income opportunity through multiplying and supplying quality planting material. With the recent growth of the cross border and export market (and the recent removal of the export ban) for cooking banana, the demand for new and improved varieties will continue to increase.

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How the International Potato Center is scaling up sweetpotato through agriculture and nutrition in Malawi. 

The sweetpotato has huge potential to contribute to food security, better nutrition and livelihoods in many parts of the developing world. The International Potato Center is developing and testing technologies and delivery mechanisms that are capable of fulfilling this potential. In particular, the success of biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) in Africa exemplifies what is possible in terms of improving the lives for the many millions of people vulnerable to malnutrition, specifically to vitamin A deficiency.

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International Potato Center Website

Why orange fleshed sweetpotato is at the nutritional forefront of the battle against hidden hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Orange fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP), when coupled with community nutritional education, provides high levels of vitamin A to vulnerable populations, especially women and young children. One small boiled root of most OFSP varieties provides 100% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A for children and one medium root provides all of the needs for most women of reproductive age. OFSP is a good source of energy, a number of B vitamins, several minerals (phosphorus, postassium) and vitamins C and K. These are vital benefits for the majority of people affected by VAD who live in rural areas where conventional VAD interventions such as supplementation and food fortification are less effective.

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The Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) is a 10 year multi-partner, multi-donor initiative that seeks to reduce child malnutrition and improve smallholder incomes through the effective production and diversified use of sweetpotato. The first five year phase (2010-2014) concentrated on Proving the Potential, building up the supply of adapted varieties and testing models of delivery of improved varieties to producers and consumers. The second five-year phase (2015-19) focuses on Achieving the Potential, ensuring that, effective "seed" systems are delivering improved planting material to 10 million sub-Saharan households.

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International Potato Center Website

Improving the livelihoods of cassava farmers and traders in East Africa. 

With more cassava produced in Africa than anywhere else in the world and more than 200 million people depending on it as their main staple food, cassava plays a vital role in reducing food and nutrition insecurity in the region. In Uganda, cassava is described as a food security crop. Drought resistant and able to be left in the ground for long periods of time without harvesting, cassava can serve as a bridging crop for many families vulnerable to food insecurity.

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Developing a business case for sweetpotato silage for pigs in Uganda - 

In Uganda, the demand for animal products is rapidly increasing due to the ever increasing human population, incomes and urbanization. In particular, the smallholder pig industry is witnessing rapid growth with approximately 1.1 million households in Uganda rearing 3.2 million pigs. Consumption of pig meat is increasing as well and Uganda ranks number one, in East Africa, in pork per capita consumption. In Uganda and East Africa more widely pig rearing has a high potential to provide economic gain for smallholder farmers, particularly women who are often in charge of their care.

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Finding security with sweet potato in Bangladesh. 

Sabrina has cultivated OFSP as one of her core crops for the last four years and this has made her something of a local expert. Having received training through the USAID Horticulture Project, Sabrina has been able to establish a vibrant OFSP crop in her farm which she takes to market, sells to neighbors and cooks at home for a nutritious meal. The USAID Horticulture Project helped demonstrated that women-led OFSP production systems can bring multiple benefits at a time – helping women to earn an income, providing access to nutritious crops and increasing their ability to make household decisions. And Sabrina is a perfect example.

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International Potato Center Website

How the International Potato Center is getting nutritious, resilient orange fleshed sweetpotato into the hands of farmers and the plates of children in sub-Saharan Africa.

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International Potato Center Website

Improving nutrition, food security & livelihoods in Bangladesh with resilient, nutritious sweet potato. 

Together with Bangladeshi partners, CIP has created momentum for OFSP adoption in the country. During the four years of the Horticulture Project, CIP and its partners reached 104,790 vulnerable farmers (64,425 women) with orange fleshed sweetpotato and now the new SUSTAIN project is working to widen this impact and reach more than 200,000 vulnerable Bangladeshi households over the coming five years.

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International Potato Center Website

Evaluating sweetpotato varieties with farmers in Malawi. 

Attention has shifted to the orange-fleshed varieties that are high in pro Vitamin A. The International Potato center is helping to drive this shift with the active promotion of six orange fleshed sweetpotato varieties in the country and to increase the productivity, production, consumption and processing of OFSP in Malawi, which will contribute to increased food availability, increased dietary diversity and improved nutrition.

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International Potato Center Website

In Kenya, Vitamin A deficiency is a significant public health problem. The SUSTAIN project is working in Nyanza province in Western Kenya, where over 50% of women do not receive vitamin A supplementation post-partum and over 60% of children under 6 months are likely not to receive vitamin A supplements. In this region, foods such as orange-fleshed sweetpotato can serve as a major source of vitamin A as well as enhancing food security for families as the OFSP varieties mature quickly (3-4 months).

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International Potato Center Website

Vitamin A deficiency affects over 140 million preschool children in 118 countries

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the most pernicious forms of undernourishment in the developing world. It limits growth, weakens immunity, affects sight and increases mortality. Afflicting over 140 million preschool children in 118 countries and more than seven million pregnant women, it is the leading cause of child blindness in developing countries. Between 250,000 and 500,000 vitamin A-deficient children go blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight. VAD also weakens the immune system, increasing their risk children under five years of age dying from diarrhea, measles and malaria by 20–24 percent.

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International Potato Center Website