Event recap: Biofortification – Nutritionally Enriched Staple Crops, the Foundation of the Food System

The 2020 State of Food and Nutrition Security in the World (SOFI) estimates that 3 billion people globally cannot afford a healthy diet while over 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, also known as “hidden hunger”. This lack of critical vitamins and minerals can have long-term, irreversible health effects on well-being and development prospects. In Malawi, the poorest rural households spend more than half of their household income on maize, which satisfies hunger, but is low in micronutrients. Fruits, vegetables, fish and livestock products, which are rich in micronutrients, are very often too expensive for poor households. While diversified diets are the long-term gold standard, crop biofortification has the potential to provide everyone with a more nutrient-rich diet in the short to medium term.

An IFPRI Malawi virtual brown bag seminar on November 25 explored the worldwide goals and activities of HarvestPlus and the status of biofortification in Malawi. In his opening remarks Arun Baral, the CEO of HarvestPlus, provided an overview on biofortification and the history of this cross CGIAR initiative. As part of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) HarvestPlus works to improve nutrition and public health through dissemination of biofortified food crops and global leadership on biofortification evidence and technology. Eight biofortified crops have been promoted globally so far (Figure 1).

HarvestPlus’s Director of Alliances and Policy, Lynn Brown, then explained that biofortification is a technique that uses conventional breeding methods to produce nutritionally enriched food crops—with higher contents of micronutrients than conventional crop varieties, while at the same time taking into account what farmers and consumers want, such as drought tolerance, disease resistance and beans with shorter cooking time. Biofortified crops can be produced at the same cost as non-biofortified varieties. Families are therefore getting additional nutrients in their diets at no extra cost thereby reducing the cost of a nutritious diet. Also, biofortified nutritionally enriched crops are grown and managed just like standard non enriched crops. So, once the start-up investment in biofortified crops is made, they can be adapted by crop breeders in various regions, countries and agro-ecological zones at low additional cost.

Brown also highlighted how biofortification can improve nutrition and health. Biofortified crops provide at least half to all of a child’s average daily vitamin A, iron or zinc needs. Vitamin A biofortified crops improve night vision and reduce vitamin A deficiency and diarrhea—leading causes of morbidity and mortality in young children. Iron biofortified crops reverse iron deficiency and iron-deficiency related anemia, reduce fatigue, and improve cognitive and physical performance. Zinc biofortified crops can improve immune functioning and reduce stunting and the risk of diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections (such as inflammation and pneumonia).

In his presentation Dellings Phiri, Country Manager at HarvestPlus, highlighted current biofortification efforts in Malawi. Using a value chain approach that engages growers, processors and authorities, four biofortified crops have been introduced together with CGIAR partners: Vitamin A maize, iron beans, Vitamin A cassava, and Vitamin A sweet potato. So far, the Vitamin A enriched sweet potato, commonly known as orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) has achieved the biggest success with nine varieties released, all of which are commercialized. Food processing for OFSP happens at scale, both by commercial firms and at the community level. The delivery of this biofortified crop was catalyzed by the International Potato Center (CIP). Ten varieties of Vitamin A maize have been released, of which four are commercialized. Food processing of Vitamin A maize has now commenced on a small scale. While one commercialized variety of iron beans is available through The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (ABC). Vitamin A cassava is still in a development phase with one yet to be commercialized variety released by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Phiri emphasized that in order to address zinc deficiency breeding of zinc enriched maize or rice should be considered.

“The successful introduction of biofortified crops requires a range of enabling partnerships along the value chain, such as crop research, development and testing, seed multiplication, distribution and demand creation, and processing and value addition,“ said Phiri. So far, HarvestPlus has created over 40 partnerships for delivery of biofortified crops across the value chain in Malawi, with seed companies, CGIAR centers, local and international farmer organizations, NGOs, CBOs, food aggregators, processors and millers.

Phiri also highlighted the importance of advocating for biofortification’s integration in key policy documents. In Malawi, biofortification is embedded in a number of policy frameworks, including the National Integrated School Health and Nutrition Policy and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III. Focal points in government are the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS (DNHA) in the Ministry of Health.

Phiri closed his presentation with three key recommendations:

• To integrate nutrient-enriched crops into key public seed and food systems, such as the school feeding program (biofortified school meals) or the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP);
• To encourage more private sector participation in the delivery program, such as seed companies, agro dealers, processors and private aggregators;
• To incorporate biofortified nutrient enriched crops in their nutrition sensitive agriculture programs of development partners.

During the question and answer session participants noted the importance of government buy-in to create demand for biofortified crops. Here, galvanizing farmers’ voices can help to prompt government into action. It was also noticed that biofortified crops are currently a niche product with limited production capacity. A much-needed scale-up could be achieved by including biofortified crops in major government programs and in the procurement targets for the Strategic Grain Reserve.

Full Event recording

Opening remarks Arun Baral

Presentation Lynn Brown Presentation Dellings Phiri

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