Drought and Virus Tolerant Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato

Resilient and Nutrient-Rich OFSP for Better Agriculture

The orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) technology is a variety of sweet potato adapted to drought, heat stress, and withstand infections by common viruses affecting the crop. Within an harvest maturity of 90 days, it can escape the risk tuber filling where rainfall is more uncertain toward the end of season. The technology of "Drought and Virus Tolerant Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato" addresses agricultural challenges related to climate, pests, and viruses, while also promoting food security, nutrition, and economic sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This technology is TAAT1 validated.

7•7

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 7/9; level of use 7/9

Adults 18 and over: Positive high

Its provides a stable, nutritious food source and an opportunity to generate income from surplus yields, offering economic resilience in drought-prone areas.

The poor: Positive medium

It helps reduce vulnerability to food insecurity during droughts and supports a more consistent income stream through potential sales, improving livelihoods for poor families.

Under 18: Positive medium

Its helps improve nutrition for children, reducing risks of vitamin deficiencies in communities with limited access to diverse food sources.

Women: Positive medium

Its helps improve household income, allowing women to better support their families.

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Its is well-suited for regions facing extreme weather, particularly drought, and performs consistently in low-water environments, making it an ideal crop for climate-affected regions.

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Its empowers farmers to adapt to changing climate conditions by providing a reliable crop that can withstand droughts and reduce dependency on other, less resilient crops.

Biodiversity: Positive impact on biodiversity

Its supports crop diversity, helping to reduce reliance on monocultures and promote a healthier ecosystem that benefits from varied plant species.

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

Its natural disease resistance minimizes the need for pesticides, contributing to a healthier ecosystem by reducing chemical exposure for surrounding plants, animals, and water sources.

Water use: Same amount of water used

Problem

Under the climate change effect in Sub-Saharan Africa with uncertain rainfall and various plant infections going with, orange crop production face numerous problem such as:

Drought and Heat Stresses: Sub-Saharan Africa faces challenges related to drought and heat, which can negatively impact the cultivation of sweet potatoes.
Viral Infections: Common viruses affect sweet potato crops, leading to reduced yields and crop damage.
Short Growing Seasons with Uncertain Rainfall: In some regions, a short growing season with unpredictable rainfall patterns poses a risk to tuber filling and crop maturity.
Pests and Insects: Sweet potato crops are susceptible to pests and insects like weevils, aphids, and whiteflies, which damage both field crops and stored tubers.

Solution

Drought and Virus Tolerant Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) provide solutions to the problems

Drought and Heat Adaptation: The technology addresses drought and heat stresses by breeding orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) cultivars that are adapted to these conditions. Traits such as early maturation, deep roots, narrow leaves, erect growth, and high vine survival are selected to make OFSP varieties more resilient to drier and warmer climates.
Virus Resistance: The technology provides OFSP varieties that are resistant to common sweet potato viruses, including stunt virus (SPCSV) and mottle virus (SPFMV). This resistance is achieved through mass selection based on field observations and genetic marker techniques.
Short Growing Season Mitigation: Some hybrid OFSP varieties are developed to reach harvest maturity within just 90 days. This allows them to escape the risk of tuber filling being affected by a shortened duration of the growing season, which is especially beneficial in regions with uncertain end-of-season rainfall.
Pest and Insect Resistance: The technology offers OFSP varieties that are resistant to pests and insects like weevils, aphids, and whiteflies, which can damage both field crops and stored tubers.
Food Security and Nutritional Enhancement: These drought and virus-resistant OFSP varieties offer food security by ensuring reliable sweet potato yields, even in challenging conditions. They are rich in beta-carotene (provitamin A carotenoid), making them highly nutritious. The beta-carotene content is largely retained during processing, making them suitable for manufacturing healthy foods such as bread, chapatis, cakes, juices, porridge, and more.
Economic Opportunities: The technology also highlights the potential to use OFSP peels and tubers for animal feed meal and starch extraction, creating economic opportunities for farmers and communities.

Key points to design your program

A Solution for Sweet Potato farming in Africa

This technology addresses key challenges, particularly vulnerability to drought and viral diseases. In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where sweet potatoes are a vital source of nutrition, it has demonstrated exceptional resilience, offering improved yields even under harsh climatic conditions. In Malawi, following the 2016 drought, 300,000 households were able to survive due to the high yields of this variety, demonstrating its impact on food security and economic resilience.

This technology supports several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 2 by improving food security and increasing yields, SDG 5 by empowering women farmers who are often responsible for sweet potato production, and SDG 13 by reducing reliance on water-intensive crops and minimizing the need for chemical interventions.

As part of the Sweet potato technologies toolkit, this technology works in synergy with other innovations such as Raised beds for sweet potato production and weed management. Together, they enhance the productivity and resilience of sweet potato plantations.

Ideal for development programs focused on improving food security, farmer incomes, and promoting sustainability, this technology offers a reliable, climate-resilient crop. Partnering with the International Potato Center (CIP) ensures technical support and ongoing monitoring for successful implementation.

Cost: $$$ 2 USD

per kg of vines

ROI: $$$ 30 %

increase in wealth

IP

Open source / open access

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Kenya	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Mozambique	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Uganda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid		–		–
Subhumid		–		–
Humid	–	–	–	–

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 2: zero hunger

By enhancing food security with high yields under drought conditions, OFSP provides a reliable food source in regions susceptible to climate change, directly addressing hunger and malnutrition.

Goal 3: good health and well-being

By contributing to better nutrition and health, particularly in communities vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies.

Goal 13: climate action

By reducing the need for water and chemical inputs, supporting sustainable farming practices that lower environmental impact.

To cultivate the drought and virus-tolerant orange-fleshed sweet potato varieties (OFSP), the following steps are required:

Choose drought and virus-tolerant OFSP varieties for propagation. Propagation material can be obtained from seeds, tubers, or vines.
The same procedures as non-adapted cultivars can be followed for propagation.
Cuttings from vines are the most commonly used planting material. Ensure the cuttings are healthy and disease-free.
Plant slips from tubers or cuttings from vines in nursery beds or by placing the base of the stem in water.
Select healthy slips or cuttings for planting. Ensure they have well-developed roots and shoots.
Plant the healthy slips or cuttings in the main field. Insert them at an angle into the soil. Maintain a spacing of 50cm between rows. Space the plants 30cm apart from each other.