In a major boost to the HarvestPlus Challenge Program, EMBRAPA and the Brazilian Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Science & Technology and Hunger & Social Development have endorsed the development of biofortified staple crops for northeast Brazil, and transfer of technology to Africa.

On March 17, 2005, a Brazilian HarvestPlus team of plant breeders and nutritionists presented an overview of the current state of research on biofortified crops to an audience of Brazilian policy makers and national scientists. The meeting proved to be critical for the endorsement of biofortification as a viable strategy to reduce micronutrient malnutrition in Brazil.

Roberto Rodrigues, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply hosted the event, and opened the symposium by affirming strong support: “The Ministry of Agriculture strongly supports HarvestPlus as an innovative program with a multidisciplinary team in the areas of plant breeding, biotechnology, human nutrition, food science and economy, in order to fight micronutrient deficiency. The Ministry has particular interest in the development and diffusion of technologies that will be accepted by the farmers and can cause an impact in the health of the population,” he stated.

In northeast Brazil, iron deficiency anemia affects nearly 50 percent of children under age two. Vitamin A deficiency is a chronic problem impacting mainly children in low-income families in parts of north, northeast and southeast Brazil. The biofortification approach has been designed to complement existing nutrition interventions being implemented in these regions so as to reach poor and undernourished people who may not have access to other nutritional programs.

Brazilian scientists from EMBRAPA, food technologists from Brazilian Universities, and micronutrient specialists from around the world presented the latest HarvestPlus achievements in plant breeding for iron in bean, and provitamin A carotenoids in maize and cassava. Over 500 nutrient-dense lines of beans from core collections at EMBRAPA and CIAT have been identified and planted. Once harvested, these varieties will be evaluated for nutrient content under field conditions. Over 1400 potentially nutrient-dense maize lines have been planted at EMBRAPA, and 1800 native cassava accessions have been analyzed of which 60 high iron and zinc lines have been identified for further multiplication.

Thanks to these efforts by HarvestPlus and partners, Brazilian policy makers have become key supporters of biofortification approaches to reducing malnutrition.