Sweet potatoes are grown in Thottiyapatty watershed area farmers under SEVAI-OFI-SG.

SEVAI –NGO in Trichy promotes the cultivation of Sweet potatoes in Thottiyapatty watershed area lands as they grow well in this sunny vegetable garden under SG/OFI Project. Sweet potato flesh is classified as moist or dry. Moist, deep orange types are sometimes called yams; the most popular varieties for home gardens are moist types. Sweet potatoes are grown in this tropical region. This warm-weather crop is remarkably nutritious and versatile. Each fleshy root is rich in vitamins A and C, along with many important minerals. Use them raw, boiled, desserts, and some homemade sweet potato fries. Sweet potatoes grow in dry soil in the perfect environment; build long, wide, 10-inch-high ridges spaced 3 1/2 feet apart. A 10-foot row produces 3 to 5 kgs of potatoes. It's best to plant root sprouts, called slips, which are available from nurseries. The SHG Farmers grow their own in Thottiyapatty, by saving a few roots from previous crop. About six weeks before it's time to plant sweet potatoes area, Shoots sprout, and

when they reach 6 to 9 inches long, cut them off the root. Remove and dispose of the bottom inch from each slip, as that portion sometimes harbors disease organisms. Sweet potatoes mature in 90 to 170 days. The farmers plough the land and collect the sweet potatoes and classify them as per the size of the sweet potatoes and market them in the local farmers market. The families consume the sweet potatoes as their breakfast and also children take them to the schools as their part of their lunch.The farmers cook the sweet potatoes in a boiled system and skins are removed and they eat with curry or plain sweet potatoes. The farmers make a good profit out of the cultivation of sweet potatoes with minor irrigation. -Govin