Nigerian schools fight student malnutrition with sweet potatoes
The production of OFSP was the result of a research collaboration between the National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI), Nigeria, and the Peru-headquartered International Potatoes Centre (CIP).
Vitamin A is critical but deficient in most diets in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, one in three children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, which accounts for the increasing under-five mortality nationally, says Michael Okonkwo, a nutritionist with the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria.
“One small-to-medium boiled root of most OFSP varieties can supply the recommended daily amount of vitamin A for young children.” Erna Abidin, CIP
Olubunmi Ayoola, programme officer of the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme, told SciDev.Net last month during a meeting to showcase the importance of OFSP in school feeding programmes that about 41,216 students in Osun state are now fed weekly on the vitamin A-enriched potato.
source: scidev.net
