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First Person

Photo: Bita Rodrigues, USAID/Mozambique

“I have been able to build a cement house with my income and provide for my children and extended family with food, clothes, and school.”

Since she was a young girl, Virginia Sebastião Neves has been working in the fields, but when a USAID-supported project introduced the benefits of growing orange-fleshed sweet potatoes in 2003, her business flourished and life started to change.

Growing subsistent crops like cabbage, cassava, and maize made supporting four small children and an extended family a challenge for Neves, who lived in a small bamboo hut and worked a full day on a tiny plot of land.

USAID support for the International Potato Center led to a national campaign to promote the multiple benefits of orange-fleshed sweet potato, highlighting that it is high in Vitamin A and easy to cultivate in diverse soil conditions. In addition, sweet potato is a new market option and is being used as a new ingredient in baking goods, such as breads and cakes.

Experts from the International Potato Center worked in collaboration with Mozambique National Agriculture Research Institute. This pool of 120 different national and international partners includes farmers associations to reach and teach farmers like Neves about the benefits of the crop and its market possibilities. They also link farmers to potential clients and new markets.

Neves’ outstanding commitment and success in growing and selling sweet potato made her stand out from the community. She eventually started an independent partnership that boasts its own clients who buy her crop under contracts.

“I have been helped very much. Thanks to the income I receive from my sweet potato crop, I have been able to build a cement house and provide for my children and extended family with food, clothes, and school,” Neves said.

In the future, Neves hopes to renovate her new home, including adding more rooms and possibly painting the house orange in honor of her favored crop. “Someday I will be driving my own car!”

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