The catalogue is a revision of the 1st edition published in 2010 providing a comprehensive update on newly released and near release OFSP varieties in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There are 60 varieties described, 31 more than in 2010. This reflects the tremendous progress made by breeders in the 8 contributing SSA countries to this catalogue. The catalogue is arranged in single pages of information and pictorials for each of the varieties. Each page covers morphological characteristics, root attributes, and other major attributes as well as consumer and processing qualities of a single variety. For information on how to obtain varieties, please contact one of the offices listed at the back of the catalogue or the CIP regional office for SSA in Nairobi, Kenya. The production of catalogue was accomplished with funding from the Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA) project.

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Biofortified, orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) varieties are being promoted as a part of a strategy to reduce Vitamin A Deficiency among rural and urban populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper uses the commodity chain approach to understand whether markets may stimulate or not the production of the new orange sweetpotato varieties on Mozambique's main consumer market, Maputo, its capital and largest city. It shows that the chain linking rural producers to the city's consumers is operated by private actors; the government provides basic infrastructures and price information. International donors are involved through the dissemination of planting material and nutrition information in support the marketing of OFSP. The commodity chains of white and orange-fleshed varieties are entwined with no clear price differences. The annual marketed volume is estimated at 8,000 tonnes, mostly produced by smallholders and sold to consumers by sidewalk and open-air market retailers. This market segment is dominated by women. A small group of specialized - male and female - commercial OFSP producers supplies about 0.5% to 1% of this market selling directly to a specific group of clients who either buy at farm gate or through home delivery. The conclusion is that the existing commodity chain fails to stimulate the production of OFSP and the expansion of its benefits to wider sections of the population suggesting that the emphasis should be on having biofortified varieties that can compete successfully with the conventional ones at the farm-level.

In the last four decades of the twentieth century the use of sweetpotato was diversified beyond their classification as subsistence, food security, and famine-relief crop. In developing countries they serve both as human food and for feeding livestock. In Western countries they appeal to health conscious consumers because of their nutritional aspects. The sweetpotato is very high in nutritive value, and merits wider use on this account alone. The book has 2 parts. A general one giving up-to-date information on the history, botany, cultivars, genetic engineering, propagation, diseases and pests, nutritional data and marketing; and a second part presenting data on sweetpotato growing practices in different areas of the world. The information should be useful to researchers, practitioners and crop administrators in different countries.

Sweetpotato and potato are expanding faster than any other food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. There is growing investment in research to address bottlenecks in value chains concerning these two crops, and growing interest from the private sector in investing in them. This book addresses five major themes on sweetpotato and potato: policies for germplasm exchange, food security and trade in Africa; seed systems; breeding and disease management; post-harvest management, processing technologies and marketing systems; nutritional value and changing behaviours.

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This report is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa's food supply. The volume describes the characteristics of 18 little-known indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers and in the world at large. The book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each species is described in a separate chapter, based on information gathered from and verified by a pool of experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and Volume III African fruits.

Producers spend a great deal of money, natural resources (especially water and soil), labor, and time every year in order to feed the world’s population. However, almost one-third of the products produced as a result of all these efforts are lost before reaching consumers due to postharvest losses, which threaten both the food supply and agricultural sustainability. For this reason, it is extremely important to prevent postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables. In this context, this book provides general and new information about the physiology of postharvest losses and the latest technological developments in postharvest systems. Each chapter provides up-to-date information about the postharvest physiology and technology of fruits and vegetables for students, teachers, professors, scientists, farmers, food packers and sellers, and entrepreneurs engaged in the fresh food preservation industry.