CGIAR
Biofortification Challenge Program—Shared Solutions
to a Global Problem
More than 800 million people, mostly women and children,
lack food that meets their basic energy needs. Far more—an
estimated 3 billion—suffer the insidious effects
of micronutrient deficiencies.
Making “Biofortified” crops—using sound
science to breed plants with increased vitamin and mineral
content —is one of the most promising new tools in
the fight to end malnutrition and save lives.
At a briefing organized for World Bank nutrition, health,
agriculture, and rural development specialists, the enormous
potential of biofortified crops to combat problems of
hunger and widespread malnutrition was outlined. The newly-approved
CGIAR Challenge Program “Biofortified Crops for Improved
Human Nutrition,” led by CIAT and IFPRI, brought
together a diverse range of partners for a discussion
of the research agenda and next steps.
“Biofortification approaches are a new paradigm in
agriculture,” said Joachim Voss, Director General,
CIAT. “The results of such research will focus on
providing better food to poor people, not just more food.”
Biofortification approaches contribute directly to the
Millennium Development Goals of eradicating hunger, reducing
child mortality, and improving maternal health.
Developing ultra-nourishing crops is one only side of
the coin. The other, equally important side is food policy.
This effort, to be led by IFPRI, will focus on key nutrition
policy issues such as nutrients lost in processing and
the critical area of consumer acceptance. A proactive
communication and consultation strategy will be an integral
part of the research effort.
“Biofortification is not the proverbial silver bullet,”
cautioned Joachim von Braun, Director General, IFPRI.
“We are aiming for a whole-diet approach for healthy
nutrition that benefits the poor.”
The briefing was well-attended and included informative
presentations on preventing and controlling micronutrient
malnutrition by Rae Galloway of World Bank, nutritional
genomics by Dean Della Penna of Michigan State University,
and the links between human nutrition research and biofortification
by Reynaldo Martorell of Emory University.
Iodized salt offers a compelling example of the benefits
of supplementation in human diets. In 1990, less than
20 percent of households consumed iodized salt. Today,
that number has risen to 70 percent. However, there are
only 28 developing countries where universal salt iodization
has been achieved. Combining current supplementation programs
with food-based solutions is one of the promising ways
of tackling hunger and malnutrition.
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