NGOs, agric ministry seek investment in orange-fleshed potato

They made this call during Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato Donor roundtable meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja.According to Mary Umoh, Promotion Expert, Hellen Keller International – a nutrition-focused NGO – the primary aim of the meeting was to sensitize the major stakeholders in the private sector, government, and donor agencies on the importance of the “wonder […]

They made this call during Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato Donor roundtable meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to Mary Umoh, Promotion Expert, Hellen Keller International – a nutrition-focused NGO – the primary aim of the meeting was to sensitize the major stakeholders in the private sector, government, and donor agencies on the importance of the “wonder crop called orange-fleshed sweet potato and to advocate the need for them to invest to actually scale up the consumption and utilization of orange-fleshed sweet potato.”
Mrs. Beatrice Eluaka, a Health Nutritionist said the purpose of the meeting was to bring stakeholders in agriculture and the production of orange-fleshed sweet potato together to discuss how to move forward with this. “wonder product, which researchers have shown has very good potentials for addressing the nutritional problem, particularly the vitamin A deficiency in Nigeria.”
Dr. Jude Njoku, Coordinator, Sweet Potato Programme, National  Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike and consultant to International Potato Centre in Nigeria, said that orange-fleshed sweet potato is a unique crop with very high beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, which has the  capacity to promote the health of growing children and pregnant women.