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86 HOWARTH BOUIS AND YASSIR ISLAM HarvestPlus, a component of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture


for Improved Nutrition and Health, leads a global effort to develop and deliver biofortified staple food crops with one or more of three most limiting nutrients in the diets of the poor: vitamin A, zinc, and iron (Brown 1991). HarvestPlus is an interdisciplinary program that works with experts in more than 40 countries. A release schedule for HarvestPlus crops is shown in Table 1. Other global, regional, and country biofortification programs are working around the world.


Advantages of Biofortification Dietary diversity is the ultimate long-term solution to minimizing hidden hunger. This will require substantial increases in income for the poor so they are able to afford more nutritious nonstaple foods such as vegetables, fruits, and animal prod- ucts. Biofortification can be effective in reducing hidden hunger as part of a strategy that includes dietary diversification and other interventions such as supplementation and commercial fortification. Biofortification has four main advantages when applied in the context of the


poor in developing countries. First, it targets the poor who eat large amounts of food staples daily. Second, biofortification targets rural areas where it is estimated that 75 percent of the poor live mostly as subsistence or smallholder farmers, or land- less laborers. These populations rely largely on cheaper and more widely available


TABLE 1 HarvestPlus target crops and countries Crop


Bean


Cassava Maize


Pearl millet Rice Sweet potato Wheat


Nutrient Iron (Zinc)


Vitamin A Vitamin A


Iron (Zinc) Zinc (Iron) Vitamin A Zinc (Iron) Target country


DR Congo, Rwanda


Traits


virus resistance, heat, & drought tolerance


DR Congo, Nigeria virus resistance Zambia


India Bangladesh, India


Uganda, Mozambique


India, Pakistan


disease resistance, drought tolerance


mildew resistance, drought tolerance


disease & pest resistance


virus resistance, drought tolerance


Release year 2012


2011 2012


2012 2013 2007 disease resistance 2013


Note: HarvestPlus also supports biofortification of the following crops: Banana/Plantain (vitamin A), Lentil (iron, zinc). Potato (iron, zinc), Sorghum (zinc, iron).


Source: HarvestPlus, “Crops,” http://www.harvestplus.org/content/crops, accessed January 25, 2011.


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