“My family is happy, healthy and wealthy, thanks to the Orange Flesh sweet potatoes

By Aber Stella,

Community Development Assistant, Barr Sub County

Aroma Martine a resident of Aceno parish, Onyapoyere village in Minakulu sub county, Oyam village is one of the farmers who benefited from the Developing and Delivering Biofortified Crops (DDBC) project in 2013 season B.

Aroma received half a bag of Kabode variety of the Orange Flesh Sweep Potatoes (OSP) together with the other farmers. The community members registered as beneficiaries appointed Martin to be their community resource person which gave him an upper hand to gain a deeper knowledge on the amazing benefits of the OSP.

During his first attendance of the nutrition class, he learnt and related the benefits of Vitamin A found in the OSP to the situation of his child’s sickness back home being a result of deficiency of this food nutrient. Even though his child had been put on vitamin A supplements being administered at regular dosage, he had not known how else for his child to be better until at this class.

 He then embarked on the production and while other members who had planted together with him the OSP waited for 3 months before starting to harvest their sweet potatoes, for Aroma at 2 ½ months he had already began feeding his pathetic son on the miraculous potatoes hoping that his child gets well soon.

Aroma’s wife too with the knowledge on infant and young child feeding she learnt from the nutrition trainings continued to feed her child and the entire family on balanced diet and the child greatly improved and eventually got better.

From November 2013 when he first fed his child on OSP, only after a period of two months his child began feeling better, a change that propelled him to conserve vines in the valley bottom.

In the subsequent seasons, Aroma has not looked back, he discovered that the vines being brought to his community were being purchased from farmers like him, he also got information that just aside the ordinary white and yellow sweet potatoes, the orange sweet potatoes were required in the markets to meet the demand as much as for its nutritive content of vitamin A

In 2014 season A, Martin expanded his garden to  two acres and planted more OSP varieties acquired from neighbors. He envisaged being a supplier as well

Martine says when he calculates off the cost of production and the potatoes that was domestically consumed, he made total sales of shs.1,724,000/= in 2014 , he used this money to organize a wedding  which took place on the 3/2/2015 at Christ the King church in Onyapuyere, Minakulu parish

The roots not sold were as well used to feed the guest at the wedding while others in the gardens are still being fed on by the family

Martin says he has acquired livestock; a pair of oxen for ploughing and goats as a result of planting and selling both the OSP roots and vines

Martine and his wife together have a 2nd child who has been exclusively breastfed for 6 months. Now at 10months the child is healthy and has not suffered from any illness

Market source

“The market vendors come up to my home for the OSP roots; some are sellers on daily markets while others are middlemen who go and sell to retailers”, he narrates

Martine says he has also contacted a motorcyclist who transports his tubers to restaurants in Oyam town to customized restaurants namely Oyam guest house and B.A.C restaurant

CBOs, NGOs and individuals also flock his compound and make orders on call for both vines and tubers