NGO unveils economic programme in Mangochi
We Effect, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that promotes the production of orange-fleshed sweet potato in Mangochi, has unveiled an economic transformation programme for farmers in the district.
The programme involves the growing of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes courtesy of “M’jinge and Afghanistan” root storage systems the organisation is assessing for the farmers to adopt.
The NGO, with funding from United States Agency for International Development (USaid) in partnership with International Potato Centre (CIP), is implementing the project to improve nutritional and commercial benefits of sweet potato to reduce post-harvest losses.
During the field day on Wednesday at Nkope Orphanage in Traditional Authority (T/A) Nankumba to assess best root storage facilities, CIP project officer Beatrice Tangwe thanked M’jinge and Afghanistan as workable initiatives to help farmers reap benefits.
“Today, we are holding this field day to assess the period over which the sweet potato roots can be stored to ensure that rural households have longer access to high value orange-fleshed sweet potato,” she explained.
“But looking at the previous results, we have seen that the two storage systems can keep potatoes up to six months in a palatable form and this is good news,” she added.
One of the lead farmers from Nkope Cluster, William Piyo, lauded We Effect for roping farmers into sweet potato farming and how to store them.
He said this would help farmers to ensure food security at household level.
