Sweet Potatoes for Health and Sustainability

We integrate women’s empowerment with sustainable food systems. One of our flagship ventures is the cultivation of sweet potatoes, a crop that nourishes households, sustains markets, and restores the land. We currently grow three varieties: Kamnyekra, Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP), and Purple-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes. Each serves a unique role:

Beyond nutrition, sweet potatoes are a regenerative crop: their leafy cover protects against soil erosion, and their vines enrich the soil with organic matter. We are also piloting a smaller sweet potato project in Nyeri’s cooler highlands, testing varieties across climates, expanding market reach, and building resilience.

We are actively conducting research and mobilising resources for value addition turning sweet potatoes into flour, chips, purée, and animal feed to create new market opportunities for women farmers.

Lessons Learnt

1. Rainfall Matters: Sweet potatoes thrive with adequate rainfall. When rains are scarce, weevil infestations become a major challenge. Rain patterns must guide planting seasons.

2. Weeding is Crucial: A farm can be lost to weeds if not managed early. Proper timely weeding makes the difference between poor yields and a healthy harvest.

3. Crop Rotation Builds Resilience: Repeating sweet potatoes on the same land reduces yields. The best practice is to skip a season, plant a nitrogen-fixing crop like beans, and then return to sweet potatoes.

4. Vine Management Saves Costs: Always keep a spare farm for vines. It reduces the cost of buying new planting material and ensures sustainability for the next season.

5. Organic Farming Protects Communities: Quick chemical fixes may boost production, but organic pest control safeguards both farmers and consumers. Sweet potatoes should be a safe, nourishing food, not a source of harm.

6. Think Beyond the Field:    Planting is only the beginning. Farmers must have a market in mind before planting and look at opportunities for value addition, such as flour, chips, or animal feed.

7. Sweet Potatoes Always Have a Market: Despite challenges, demand never saturates. Sweet potatoes remain a stable, high-potential crop for food security and income.