Targeting market segment needs with public-good crop breeding investments: A case study with potato and sweetpotato focused on poverty alleviation, nutrition and gender.

Crop breeding programs have often focused on the release of new varieties that target yield improvement to achieve food security and reduce poverty. While continued investments in this objective are justified, there is a need for breeding programs to be increasingly more demand-driven and responsive to the changing customer preferences and population dynamics. This paper analyses the responsiveness of global potato and sweetpotato breeding programs pursued by the International Potato Center (CIP) and its partners to three major development indicators: poverty, malnutrition and gender.

Using preschoolers to improve caregivers' knowledge, attitude, and practices relating to biofortified crops: Evidence from a randomized nutrition education trial in Kenya.

This 2018 randomized controlled trial examined the role behavioral nudges can play in improving caregivers' knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) relating to biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP). The experiment involved 431 preschooler-caregiver pairs in 15 villages. The preschoolers were enrolled in public-run Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centers in the respective villages.