Darwin Initiative: Sweetpotato Project Strengthens Communities

13 December 2024

The Crop Trust is coordinating the Sweetpotato, a model for food security and long-term conservation of biodiversity project. The Sweetpotato project is featured in the Darwin Initiative’s latest newsletter, Local Learnings from Darwin Projects.

The Darwin Initiative, a UK government grants program, invests in projects that protect biodiversity and help communities living alongside it. By funding local efforts, the initiative empowers partnerships and finds sustainable solutions to global challenges.

Sweetpotato is a vital crop for nutrition in Africa that faces serious challenges from diseases and climate change. To address these issues, the project brings together the International Potato Center (CIP), the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI), and FIFAMANOR in Madagascar to test ways to conserve and use the genetic diversity of the crop.

 A key part of the project is cryopreservation – storing tiny plant parts in liquid nitrogen at super-low temperatures to keep them safe for the future. Project partners have collected sweetpotato vines, cleaned them of pests and diseases, and cryopreserved them. The cleaned vines are then shared back with farmers to improve harvests and strengthen food security. It’s called “clean-and-share,” and it could also be used with other crops that cannot be conserved as seeds.

The project collected 335 distinct sweetpotato varieties in the two partner countries and gave farmers thousands of healthy vines to plant. This helps communities recover lost crop diversity, grow better harvests and adapt to challenges like drought and cyclones. Importantly, women play a big role, making up over half of the farmers and team members involved.

“Farmers in Madagascar and Zambia are now in a stronger position to feed their families and improve their livelihoods than they were a year ago,” said Sarada Krishnan, Crop Trust’s Director of Programs.

This project, which is part of the Global Plant Cryopreservation Initiative, shows how working together can protect biodiversity and use it to create a more sustainable future. 

It is set to wrap up in 2025, leaving behind a model that can help conserve other important crops propagated through cuttings and tubers.

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Categories: For Educators, For The Press, For Partners, The Sweetpotato Project, Sweetpotato, Climate Change, Food Security, English, Reports