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Farmers have been encouraged to take up the production of OFSP, orange flesh sweet potato because of its higher yield and nutritional value.
The seldom patronized tuber crop helps to address Vitamin A deficiency in children under five, and has a high nutritional value.
Moreover, OFSP provides more food per hectare than yam, maize and cassava and also has a shorter production cycle as well as lower soil fertility requirements.
The call, therefore, to improve nutrition and increase income earning opportunities for farmers.
The proposal was made at a forum dubbed “Orange Day” in Accra last Wednesday, held under the sponsorships of Farm Radio International (FRI), a non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the Editors Forum Ghana (EFG).
The forum was on the theme: “Fighting Vitamin A Deficiency with the Orange Flesh Sweet Potato.”
The Country Director of FRI, Mr Ben Fiafor, while speaking at the event said, 43 million children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from Vitamin A deficiency.
He said there was the need to hold the production of OFSP, since it was a bi-fortified variety that could help expand the health needs of children and mothers.
An officer of the Crop Research Institute, Mr Kwadwo Adofo, for his part said that its production was a business opportunity for farmers.
He stressed that the root tuber needed to be exported and exploited, to improve the living standards of farmers.
