Sweetpotato Project: Securing Diversity for Farmers and the Future

• More than 300 sweetpotato landrace varieties were collected in Madagascar and Zambia, with 30 secured through long-term cryopreservation.
• Over 100,000 clean, disease-free vines were distributed to 355 farmers in Madagascar and Zambia.
• A total of 56 clean landraces were repatriated to farmers.

The Darwin Initiative-funded sweetpotato project successfully wrapped up with Malagasy and Zambian sweetpotato landraces now safeguarded in genebanks and returned to farmers as clean, disease-free planting material at scale.

In its final year, partners focused on distributing virus-free planting materials to farmers in Madagascar and Zambia, on-site learning visits with farmers, and donor reporting.

Lessons learned fed into the Crop Trust’s wider work to secure cryopreserved clonal crop collections forever.

Over three years, the Sweetpotato Project worked to collect, clean, conserve and return sweetpotato landraces to farming communities – linking genebank conservation with real-world use. 

In total, more than 300 sweetpotato landrace varieties from Madagascar and Zambia were collected. From this diversity, 30 landraces were secured through cryopreservation in the International Potato Center’s genebank and newly-opened Cryo Vault, ensuring their long-term survival.

At the same time, the project prioritized farmer access. After being cleaned of pests and diseases, 56 landraces were repatriated to farmers in Madagascar and Zambia. Over the project’s duration, over 100,000 clean vines were distributed to 355 farmers. This provided healthier planting material and helped farmers multiply and share these varieties locally.

In 2025, the project’s final year, partners concentrated on consolidating impact and learning. Crop Trust representatives joined project collaborators for three on-site visits across Madagascar, meeting farmers who are growing out this diversity and disseminating vines to others. On these visits, the team observed crop performance, documented farmer experience and saw how access to clean, diverse planting material translates into stronger harvests and more reliable food and income sources.

Alongside engagement in the field, partners completed donor reporting and assessed lessons learned – particularly around maintaining and multiplying vegetatively propagated crops. These insights now inform the Crop Trust’s broader cryopreservation work, strengthening global efforts to conserve clonal crop diversity securely, permanently and in ways that benefit farming communities.