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Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and under-nutrition generally limit the intellectual potential of individuals affected, undermining their economic and social development. Health experts say the medical condition is a major public health problem in many countries in Africa, with an estimated 42 per cent rate of VAD prevalence among children under five. The condition impairs immunity, increases the risk of illness, such as diarrhoeal disease, and causes eye damage that can lead to blindness and even death. Because of its nutritional values, Vitamin A is typically added to products such as milk, sugar, vegetable and flour, which are widely consumed. Three most common strategies The three most common strategies for addressing VAD are, large-scale vitamin A supplementation programmes, food fortification with vitamin A and food-based approaches that encourage diet diversification and promote vitamin A rich foods, including bio-fortified foods, such as staple crops bred to make them richer in macronutrients. Vitamin A is available from three food sources; animal foods, plant foods and artificially fortified foods. According to the Reaching Agents of Change (RAC) Project, an organisation that advocates for increased investment in orange-fleshed sweet potato food-based approaches to combat VAD among children below age five and their mothers, treating VAD is established as one of the most effective ways to increase child survival. The organisation, which also builds institutional capacity to design and implement gender-sensitive projects to ensure wide access and utilisation of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) in selected African countries, maintains that, promoting orange-fleshed sweet potato is an effective approach to reducing VAD in African countries, especially, in rural areas, for several reasons. Improving Vitamin A status of children It contends that improving the vitamin A status of children aged 6-59 months, reduces their risk of dying from measles by an average of 50 per cent, from diarrhoea by an average of 40 per cent, and from all-cause mortality by an average of 23 per cent. This translates into saving 645,000 lives per year in sub-Saharan Africa. This is because many orange-fleshed sweet potato varieties, which are already widely grown in many countries, have extremely high levels of bio-available pro-vitamin A. Secondly, children like the taste and the agronomic characteristics of orange-fleshed sweet potato, which is grown by women, who also bear the responsibility for child feeding and market value, making it an attractive crop for all types of households, including the poor, who may be hard to reach by other interventions. Sweet potato can grow in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Although average yields on farmers� fields in Africa are low (4-6 tons/hectare), sweet potato can easily yield in excess of 15 tons/hectare under rain-fed conditions if key recommended practices are used. Sweet potato does best in well-drained sandy loam soils with a pH range of 5.5-7.0. Most farmers plant on mounds or ridges to ensure adequate aeration and space for the growth of storage roots. Growing sweet potato in Africa, Ghana In Africa, sweet potato is mainly planted using stem cuttings from an existing crop or nursery. In Ghana, sweet potato is grown in some parts of the country, and is particularly important in a number of communities in the Central, Volta and Upper East regions. In the Central Region, the crop is important commercially, serving urban markets; in the Volta Region, it is important both commercially and for home consumption and in the Upper East Region, the crop is part of farming and food systems, but with relatively lower market access. Most sweet potatoes in Ghana are white or yellow-fleshed, but a few orange-fleshed sweet potato varieties are available. Orange-fleshed sweet potato is a versatile crop, which not only contributes nutritional and food security benefits, but also improves food availability and livelihoods when farmers plant high yielding varieties, use better integrated crop management strategies and improved post-harvest practices, and value chains for new products are developed. Views from experts Promoting orange-fleshed sweet potato as a food-based approach to addressing vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is based on sound scientific evidence. Experts say, consuming the crop is expected to improve the lives of 10 million African families by 2020. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, people eat large amounts of staple foods like sweet potatoes, but the types commonly eaten are yellow and white in colour and a poor source of vitamin A. The orange varieties are extremely rich in Vitamin A and have been adapted to growing conditions in Africa and to local tastes. In addition to being a rich source of vitamin A, orange sweet potato, also referred to as orange-fleshed sweet potato in Africa, is also high yielding, virus resistant and drought tolerant. According to Dr Francis Kweku Amagloh of the Biotechnology Department (Food Processing Technology Unit), Faculty of Agriculture, University for Development Studies, Nyankpala Campus, Ghana, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Crop Research Institute (CRI) and the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) are doing extensive work on orange-fleshed sweet potato. He said the International Potato Centre (CIP), with the West African regional office in Ted and Erna are working on all the value chains of OFSP from seed production up to consumption, adding that UDS is partnering CIP on sweet potato storage. �Also, we have an ongoing OFSP project entitled, "Just starting orange-fleshed sweet potato in West Africa (Ghana, Burkina and Nigeria) through diversified markets�, he said. The project, he said, was led by CIP with other partners in various countries, with the World Vision International also working on an OFSP project. Orange fruits and vegetables, with dark leafy green colours and animal products are good sources of vitamin A, but are not always available, or may be too expensive in some regions. Orange-fleshed sweet potato could help avoid blindness, disease and even death. That�s why Feed the Future and its partners are helping families across the globe � and especially in Africa � to grow and incorporate orange-fleshed sweet potatoes into their diets.