Achieving some of the potential of Sweet Potato for small holder farmers in Zimbabwe

Dr Ian Robertson

University of Zimbabwe

and Agri-Biotech (Pvt) Ltd

Why sweet potato? - a women’s crop, an orphan crop,

neglected by men, neglected by government and neglected by the research community. . . .

Let’s do it for Mrs Mombeshora but let’s also do it for PROFIT!

What Agri-Biotech has done using tissue culture methods

of Biotechnologyof Biotechnology

What is the problem?

• In Zimbabwe bread is no longer available in rural communities.

• Families are now eating sweet potato and tea for breakfast.

What is an answer?

Virus-elimination of sweet potato can lead to yields of20-40 tons/hectare.

• Our agriculture is producing one third of what we need and what we used to produce a few years ago

• Price controls have discouraged the commercial growing of the main staple, maize.

• Fortunately sweet potato, being more nutritious, can fill in the gaps.• Traditionally the yields are low: 4-6 tons per hectare by a local survey

and 6-8 t/h across Africa (FAO estimates).• Virus-elimination can increase this to 30-40 tons/hectare

The growing of yellow fleshed sweet potato is also encouraged

For deprived children, yellow flesh means carotene, the precursor of Vitamin A

Not just a potato! Delicious bambaira preparations –French fries for the kids and crusty bread and biscuits,

jam and juice, leafy relish and sadza

Nutrition• Average values per 100 gm dry matter

• Energy 1700 kilojoules• Protein 5,6 gm• Carbohydrate 82,1 gm

(Tuber is 80% water)• Total Fat 0,5 gm• Total Fat 0,5 gm• Fibre 11,1 gm• Sodium 62 mg• Vitamin C 113 mg

• High fibre, low fat, good digestible carbohydrates;• Ideal amino acid balance (good S-amino acid); • Low sodium, one third of daily Vitamin C requirement.

Field days are organised on nursery farms like that of Mrs Chipara to encourage passing on of information and of sweet potato vines -

In this way, we have reached at least half of our Zimbabwean families.

Mrs Chipara has sold vines to each of these 46 neighbours!

They will also potentially get 40t/h and another 74 farmers also bought later on.

Mrs Chipara also works with her neighbour in a cooperative and they have started exporting truckloads of sweet potato to Botswana.

• Agri-Biotech is a spin-off Company from the University of Zimbabwe that employs UZ graduates and is creating jobs and useful skills.

• This year (2010), through 72 projects and 48 NGOs, FAO has financed the distribution of 4,7 million VE vines to small-holder farmers in every Province..

• We are guessing that there are 100,000 rural beneficiaries, mostly women.

• Another 750,000 VE vines have just been requested by Red Cross.

• In 2009, through only 11 NGOs, an estimated 2 million cuttings grew on about 30,000 small-holder farms, 30 church orphanages, hundreds of re-settlement farms and with 5,000 displaced persons through IOM.

• On average, at field days attended by 100-300 farmers, these first farmers passed on Generation Two VE vines (slightly infected but still yielding very well) to ten more farmers each, by sale or gift.

• So 500,000 families (almost all AIDS-affected), 2 million souls, were reached.

• Similar distribution and training in four previous years helped another 2 million help themselves by growing their own staple.

What does it take to achieve Food Security ?

Germplasm

Know-how,

and Finance

Quality Germplasm - through tissue culture in the lab

Quality Field Know-how

The urban refugee, top right, could not find a job in the big city, returned home and found success with VE sweet potato

Quality Finance (from many sources)

We have been glad to work with all of these NGOs

• FAO

• UK’s D F I D and US’s I D E

• EU’s Help Germany• EU’s Help Germany

• Sweden’s SIDA / Swedish Centre for Coop.

• World Vision

• Save the Children

• Care International

• LEAD (Irish), GOAL, and Red Cross

An SDA church orphanage where the childrenare feeding themselves all year round

Mr Gumede, ex-school-teacher

His field day

Mr Gumede inherited a small dam which allows gravity feed through polythene piping irrigating one and a half hectares in one and a half hectares in the curve of a dry, sandy stream bank. His family are cattle herders and they are in a semi-arid area, Silobela

Gumede with prepared speech at his field day

He gets 36t/h using kraal manureon sand in the bend of a dry river, using water from a tiny dam

Mr Boy Ncube

Mr Athanasious Boy Ncube dominates the market in Kwe-Kwe, he has 30 women selling by the bucket at the roadside. He has the bucket at the roadside. He has bought a pick-up and built a brick home of four rooms. He feeds his cattle on vines and broken tubers.

Harvesting

On the three extra hectares, after five months under rain-fed conditions, the family begin to harvest the tubers.

Then the tubers are gradedinto various sizes to suit the needs of the market.

Nothing is thrown away, tubers that are too small,or too big for the marketor damaged by badza or insect pests are fed tothe livestock…

…and they love them too!

It’s a hive of activity at the market He speaks to his regular customers

Every three days 60 x50 kgs Mrs Ncube counting the returns

Objectives of Food Security

• Vital to ‘stomach fill’ – food for survival

• Vital to free the spirit – freedom from self-concern• Vital to free the spirit – freedom from self-concern

• Vital to political progress – avenue for finding dignity

Stomach-fill ?

Not just sweet potato –next is cassava

Free Spirits ?

Mr and Mrs Gumede celebrate . . . . .and . . . .Political progress?

Political Progress ?Our future leadership

Our Team

It’s not just applying technology, it is adopting a new life-style

What creates trust?

Our Company style is :

• Integrity – no cheating on expenses, no ghost journeys paid for by the sponsors, no lies to farmers;the sponsors, no lies to farmers;

• Transparency – share our ideas with farmers, listen to their problems, history and experience, never bluff when we do not know, avoid political judgements, telling the truth about our vulnerability and

• Sincerity – deliver the plants, be there when promised, share ideas on our hopes for the future, above all get the job done whatever excuses are available.

Thanks and good luck

We would like to offer to

help other countries

get going like this

Agri-Biotech = agbio@mweb.co.zw

Or ian.agbio@gmail.com

Am I Dreaming?

The vision grows from the new lifestyle

When you feed your family, you hold your head up, and you win back your dignity

When you feed the whole country, you have economic independence, you can tell the IMF and WB to buzz off

When you help your neighbours to feed their families, you build the trust that puts an end to wars

What Agri-Biotech would like to do using five genes for

improving many of our crops and the methods of

transformation adding these specific new characteristics

What genes?

To make the crop resistant to:

Caterpillers, stem-borers = Bt geneCaterpillers, stem-borers = Bt gene

Beetles = Cowpea trypsin inhibitor

Sap-sucking insects = snowdrop lectin

Weeds = glyphosate resistance gene

Nematodes = anti-nematode Bt gene

A combination of these five genes will reduce our losses to biotic stresses by about twenty biotic stresses by about twenty

percent.

Who and how does it help?

• It will help both small farmers and commercial farmers – by reducing losses to insects, weeds and nematodes

• and it will reduce inputs spent on • and it will reduce inputs spent on chemicals

• and reduce damage to the environment due to reducing the harsh chemicals we are using now

What is holding us up?

Nothing!

We have the trained scientists

We have the laws, regulations and the Biotech AuthorityBiotech Authority

We have the labs at UZ, TRB and Agri-Biotech

We have the genes and the enzymes and chemicals needed

Do we have the courage?