SI-Enhancing Food Security and Livelihoods through Virus-Free Vitamin A-rich Sweet Potato Vines: A Demand-Driven and Multi-actor Approach in

UG2024TEA575A103 01/09/2024 - 31/08/2029 The successfully adoption/scale up of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) as a food-based intervention is limited, more so in Ugandan refugee settlements and host communities. OFSP viruses are very prevalent and limit productivity. This project supports the establishment of a community-focused and certified research centre of excellence in tissue culture micropropagation/multiplication at Mountains of the Moon University, to supply virus-free high-performing OFSP cultivars. Using a Research-to-Action approach, existing farmer adoption and consumer preferences for OFSP will be established, with a comprehensive analysis of the operations of existing OFSP vines input suppliers. This will inform the development and optimisation of in vitro tissue culture techniques for efficient elimination of OFSP viruses and eventual scaling of the production of virus-free OFSP cultivars for sustainable adoption and consumption in refugee settlements and host communities in western and northern Uganda.