New project to increase production and consumption of orange-fleshed sweet potato among smallholder farmers in Benue and Oyo states

2 June 2023

To facilitate agricultural solutions to overcome malnutrition, IITA–CGIAR, through funding from Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), is implementing the “Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples (SNIPS)” project.

Extension officers in Benue State during the field training.
Extension officers in Benue State during the field training.

The 4-year project (2022-2026) will contribute to increased production and consumption of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) among smallholder farmers, thus improving food and nutrition security and livelihoods for women and children, significantly improving diet diversity in Benue and Oyo states. The project also will build strong demand and capacity among stakeholders from the government to the private sector and farmer associations to fully utilize OFSP and vine multiplication for improved nutrition and livelihood in the two selected Nigerian states. Through the case of OFSP, the project will demonstrate how a bio-fortified crop can be profitably produced, marketed, and used in nutrition programming in both states.

Facilitator demonstrating how to setup the OFSP farm.
Facilitator demonstrating how to setup the OFSP farm.

In collaboration with GAIN and selected state Agriculture Development Programs (ADPs), the project will empower at least 560 Farmers in Benue and Oyo states to access, farm, and market OFSP for improved livelihood. At the same time, their households and community generally will be aware of OFSP nutrition and economic benefits for adoption and consumption, with strong consideration for youth and women. This will entail capacity-building activities, setting up demonstration plots to train farmers on Good Agronomic Practices (GAP), and training 40 selected farmers on vine multiplication.

Participants during the training in Oyo.
Participants during the training in Oyo.

Extension officers from ADP will lead the training. In response, 17 extension officers—nine in Benue, eight in Oyo—have been trained as trainers in both states in May 2023. These trainers—53% male and 47% female—will step down the training to selected farmers.

Project Lead Debo Akande, also Chief Executive Officer of the IITA Business Incubation Platform (BIP), stated that the project would work from production to processing and marketing in collaboration with other organizations through GAIN. He added that the project would focus on eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Oyo (Afijio, Ido, Iseyin, and Oyo West) and Benue (Gboko, Gwer East, Makurdi, and Otukpo).

Contributed by Oyewale Abioye