VCDP Trains Women on Orange Flesh Sweet Potato Cultivation
Rose Terver from Ashina Women Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Gwer-East local government area of Benue state has already planted her Orange Flesh Sweet Potato (OFSP), a sweet potato variety that is renowned for its nutritional value. She is excited at the hope of a bountiful harvest now that she know all there is to know about the value, health benefits and cultivation methods for the sweet potato variety.
She is one of 16 women from 8 local government areas of Benue state who have been trained by the Federal Government, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Value Chain Development Programme (FG/IFAD-VCDP) alongside their counterparts from Taraba and Nassarawa to cultivate OFSP. The 5-day training which held from the 22nd to 26th June 28, 2022 in Nassarawa state did not only teach the women the best practices for cultivating OFSP, but also exposed them to the nutritional benefits derivable from is consumption.
According to Benue State IFAD-VCDP Rural Institution, Gender and Youth Mainstreaming Officer (RIGYMO), Mrs Sandra Agber, OFSP is a sweet potato variety that is very good for pregnant women and for combating vitamin A deficiency in children because it is very rich in vitamins as well as calcium, phosphorus and iron. Others she added include, magnesium, potassium, fibre and antioxidant compounds that help prevent cancer as well as other nutrients that are beneficial to human health. According to the RIGYMO, OFSP also has a rich value chain. It can be eaten in almost every form and manner with the peels serving as animal feed. Taping into it can also be a good source of revenue for the women.
Mrs Agber disclosed that as part of VCDP’s nutrition sensitive intervention, the women who are members of VCDP Assisted Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society were selected and exposed to the OFSP after which they were supported with 240 bundles as start up support with every farmer taking home 15 bundles each. They were encouraged to share some of the bundles with other farmers so the variety can be popularized and commercialized. She revealed that the beneficiaries would be monitored and invited when the OFSP is ready for harvest for a training on how to process the Potatoes into other different finished products to add value to it.
