Members of KOTEMU stand with their children in a field of orange fleshed sweetpotato Credit: S. Quinn/CIP

KOTEMU is an Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato farming collective in Muhanga District, Rwanda. This is their story…

KOTEMU is a farming group that has chosen to grow orange fleshed sweetpotato to improve nutrition and livelihoods of members Credit: S. QUinn/CIP

We are KOTEMU. In Kinyarwanda this is the Koperative Terimbere Muhinzi (in English this translates to Cooperative: ''farmer, develop yourself''). We are a farming group and cooperative here in Muhanga District, Rwanda.

Orange fleshed sweetpotato is high in vitamin A and a very healthy choice for pregnant women and children under 5 years of age Credit: S. Quinn/CIP

We have come together to farm and to try to improve our lives together. We started working as a cooperative farming group a few years ago, growing a range of different crops. In 2010, we started growing OFSP with the aim of generating income from it.

KOTEMU grow a range of crops including two varieties of orange fleshed sweetpotato known as VITAA and KABODE Credit: S. Quinn/CIP

We were introduced to OFSP farming by a local partner who was working with the International Potato Center's SASHA project in Rwanda. We started receiving OFSP vines and help from an agronomist who provided advice on how to plant, take care of and harvest the crop.

KOTEMU sells vines and root to local NGOs working in nutrition as well as supplying roots to a local private sector processor who creates commercial products made out of OFSP Credit: S. Quinn

In terms of nutrition there have been lots of benefits for us and our families from our decision to farm OFSP. We now feed our children OFSP. This means they get vitamin A in their diets. We used to get vitamin A from medicine or from eggs or fish, which are all very expensive to buy. But now we no longer sell our things in order to buy those expensive items as we can now eat OFSP to get the vitamin A we need for us and our children.

Women are a driving force in KOTEMU working across all aspects of the value chain from planting and harvesting to marketing and sales Credit: S. Quinn/CIP

There have also been economic benefits from OFSP. We sell OFSP roots at 150 Rwandan Francs per kg. We have a contract with a nearby processor that provides a regular demand for OFSP roots. We feel much more secure now that we have this regular income.

KOTEMU provides OFSP roots to a local processor on a regular basis who then creates OFSP products to sell commercially (like these OFSP Akarabo biscuits) Credit: S. Quinn/CIP

We now have knowledge on OFSP farming from the trainings that we received. We now know how to take care of the OFSP crop, we know how to process them and turn it into mandazi and other processed goods. This adds value to the crop and means that we can get more money.