Oct 1st, 2012 4:47 PM UTC By Guest Blogger Can this humble tuber
boost nutrition, improve maternal health, AND create new
economic opportunities for women? It’s lunch time at Margaret
Simiyu’s house, and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are on the
menu. Three dozen mothers and children sit outside Margaret’s
mud-walled home in Western Kenya, where a community health
worker is talking about the powerful nutritional punch packed
inside this unassuming vegetable. Margaret, 38, needs little
convincing. She’s already seen the health benefits since she
started cultivating orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and serving
them to her family — along with some bonus benefits she never
expected. Linking agriculture and nutrition Margaret is one of
nearly 3,000 women in Western Kenya participating in an
innovative project called Mama SASHA (Sweetpotato Action for
Security and Health in Africa). The five-year project aims to
boost the health and nutrition of pregnant women and young
children by linking nutrition education, sweet po