As I read a 2001 article by Jan Low et al
(1), it points to the orange fleshed beta-carotene rich sweet potatoes
replacing the white-fleshed varieties favored by farmers in Africa . It
further goes to state that such a move would benefit an estimated 50
million children under the age of 6 who are at the risk of Vitamin A
deficiency.
Vitamin
A deficiency continues to pose a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa for
both adults and children. Clearly, the impact is much greater in
children especially when they are hit by measles.
The
probability of at-risk child going blind after a measles attack is
quite high and chances of mortality from measles are also drastically
increased in vitamin A deficient children. Efforts to save the many
young children affected have taken many forms, with the most immediate
one being the provision of supplements, often in capsule form or drops
in case of very young children. There are countries where such programs
go on for years, in that what started off as a short-term measure
becomes a long-term program. For example, Swedish International
Development Agency (SIDA) financed vitamin A supplementation in
Tanzania for 25 years.
The
need was clearly there as many of these children lived in the mostly
arid areas of the country where beta-carotene rich foods could hardly
be grown while at the same time, consumption of retinol rich animal
foods is beyond the reach of most of the poor households from which the
children come.
The
orange fleshed sweet potato has been around for a long time. I found it
in the USA when I went to study in that country in 1968. In the USA ,
at the time, it formed part of the diet in many homes, as a vegetable
mostly or as a dessert (it makes excellent sweet potato pie or
pudding). I was not aware of any efforts to convince people to consume
it, but then nor was I aware of vitamin A deficiency as a public health
problem in the USA .
What
shocked me about this potato was that it was quite dissimilar from the
Kenyan, Western Province sweet potato I was used to. The American
orange flashed sweet potato was clearly orange, and wet. The sweet
potato I knew in Kenya was dry, often white although some varieties
were orangish, and fairly sweet. It was being consumed as a
supplementary staple, a carbohydrate (not as a vegetable) and with tea,
or mashed with beans to provide, a whole meal, sweetish dish. As I
continued to stay in the USA and enjoyed their orange-fleshed sweet
potato dish, I truly never imagined it could replace the Kenyan sweet
potato. As far as I was concerned, the two varieties constituted
completely different products, with different uses in the diet.
I
have always cautioned against replacement and have instead advocated
for addition when I started to attend Harvest Plus meetings several
years back. My advice was always that the orange-fleshed sweet potato
needed to be promoted as a new product with certain specific health
enhancing attributes. As it is, I still enjoy the Kenyan, high-dry
matter, white fleshed sweet potato that I have been used to. My palate
often craves for it.
All
of a sudden, the rural community where I have worked with my NGO, Rural
Outreach Program, for the past 15 years has accepted the orange fleshed
sweet potato and are now making all kinds of dishes from this type of
potato.
The
intrusion of the potato into the community did not take much effort and
one in fact is bound to worry as to how sustainable it is.
When
we have our field days, and have just held, our 13 th one recently,
women make juice, cakes, substitute the white potato or banana in
traditional dishes, chapati (a favorite pan fried flat bread), scones
as snacks for children and so on. In other words, they have come up
with new dishes and have modified some to incorporate the orange
fleshed sweet potato. The color imparted by the new sweet potato, is
attractive to most people; there is no doubt about this. The demand for
the flour from these potatoes is in very high demand in the cities
because of the perceived health attributes of beta-carotene. In fact,
we have had to train the women to prepare the flour for sale in the
cities for the urban consumer.
Therefore,
unlike the traditional sweet potato, the new potato is a good income
earner for poor families. We are also taking the same flour and adding
to children's porridge which they are served as a snack while in Pre
School . We imagine that this is enriching the porridge in terms of
flavor, enhances the color for the children, and imparts bete-carotene
to their health.
What
of the traditional sweet potato? It is still grown and it is still
valued and has its own place in the diets. The question then is, is the
orange-fleshed sweet potato have to stay? I hope so but we cannot take
this for granted. Planting material needs to be available on a
continuous basis and so we are working with the Ministry of Agriculture
to identify farmers who can bulk the seed on their farms and make it
available to other farmers.
As
to the impact of the orange-fleshed sweet potato in my community, I
truly have no idea. The reason is that we have not established
benchmarks of vitamin A status in the population because the potato was
adopted without a baseline survey. And whatever improvements will be
reported will be at best qualitative and anecdotal.
We
have established baseline anthropometric measurements for 3-8 year olds
in preschool centers but this does not include their vitamin A status.
It was not practical to do so, for cost considerations as the tests
were not budgeted for. However, it is not all lost; one can still take
this in the program community and compare it with a control community
where the project is not operating. It is my intention to interest a
postgraduate student in this type of study.
What
is my message here? That it is not necessary to displace a food product
just because you wish to introduce a new one similar to it. Most likely
in this case, the switch over will be organic, without being forced,
and may be both types of potato will co-exist.
A
second view is that even without over emphasizing the vitamin A
attributes, the orange- flavored sweet potato has other attributes over
the traditional sweet potato which can market it, at the same time
imparts bete-carotene, which is a valuable nutrient in this community.
Finally,
we underrate the poor. They are not as ignorant as we might think. They
know a good thing when it is well explained to them. In my Butere
community, the sweet potato arrived and has had impact without my
serious intervention.
You
are all welcome to one of the field days we organize in Butere, Western
Province , Kenya . Just contact me if you are interested, you can also
contact me if you are interested to sponsor as, to student study this
whole issue.
Well,
politics may also have helped it as we have an orange movement on right
now, which is advocating for major political reforms and happens to be
popular in Western Kenya .
Enjoy this issue.
Ruth Oniang'o, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Reference