Role of socio-economic research in developing, delivering and scaling new crop varieties: the case of staple crop biofortification.

The CGIAR biofortification program, HarvestPlus, was founded with the aim of improving the quality of diets through micronutrient-dense varieties of staple food crops. Implemented in four phases - discovery, development, delivery and scaling - the program was designed to be interdisciplinary, with plant breeding R&D supported by nutrition and socio-economic research. This paper explains the need, use and usefulness of socio-economic research in each phase of the program.

Improving nutrition through biofortification: A review of evidence from HarvestPlus, 2003 through 2016.

Biofortification is a feasible and cost-effective means of delivering micronutrients to populations that may have limited access to diverse diets and other micronutrient interventions. Since 2003, HarvestPlus and its partners have demonstrated that this agriculture-based method of addressing micronutrient deficiency through plant breeding works. More than 20 million people in farm households in developing countries are now growing and consuming biofortified crops.

Biofortification: a new tool to reduce micronutrient malnutrition.

Background: The density of minerals and vitamins in food staples eaten widely by the poor may be increased either through conventional plant breeding or through the use of transgenic techniques, a process known as biofortification.

Objective: HarvestPlus seeks to develop and distribute varieties of food staples (rice, wheat, maize, cassava, pearl millet, beans, and sweet potato) that are high in iron, zinc, and provitamin A through an interdisciplinary, global alliance of scientific institutions and implementing agencies in developing and developed countries.

Methods: In broad terms, three things must happen for biofortification to be successful.

Food prices, household income, and resource allocation: socioeconomic perspectives on their effects on dietary quality and nutritional status.

Background: The recent rise in agricultural commodity prices has been dramatic, and food prices are likely to follow an upward trend, at least in the medium-term. Moreover, the recent financial crisis has also lowered incomes and increased food prices. Not only does this reduce dietary quality, but expenditures for health, sanitation, and education will decline, all of which will have a detrimental effect on health and nutrition outcomes.

Three criteria for establishing the usefulness of biotechnology for reducing micronutrient malnutrition.

The fundamental reason that plant breeding using either conventional breeding or biotechnology is so cost-effective is that the benefits of a one-time investment at a central research location can be multiplied over time across nations all over the world. Supplementation and fortification incur the same recurrent costs year after year in country after country. However, each intervention has its own comparative advantages, such that a combination of several interventions is required to substantially reduce micronutrient malnutrition.

Biofortification of staple food crops.

Deficiencies of vitamin A, iron, and zinc affect over one-half of the world's population. Progress has been made to control micronutrient deficiencies through supplementation and food fortification, but new approaches are needed, especially to reach the rural poor. Biofortification (enriching the nutrition contribution of staple crops through plant breeding) is one option.

Micronutrient fortification of plants through plant breeding: can it improve nutrition in man at low cost?

Can commonly-eaten food staple crops be developed that fortify their seeds with essential minerals and vitamins? Can farmers be induced to grow such varieties? If so, would this result in a marked improvement in human nutrition at a lower cost than existing nutrition interventions? An interdisciplinary international effort is underway to breed for mineral- and vitamin-dense varieties of rice, wheat, maize, beans and cassava for release to farmers in developing countries. The biofortification strategy seeks to take advantage of the consistent daily consumption of large amounts of food staples by all family members, including women and children as they are most at risk for micronutrient malnutrition. As a consequence of the predominance of food staples in the diets of the poor, this strategy implicitly targets low-income households.

Coliforms in the water and hemoglobin concentration are predictors of gastrointestinal morbidity of Bangladeshi children ages 1-10 years.

The presence of pathogens in the water and children's poor nutritional status are likely to increase morbidity in developing countries. Understanding the interactions between the environmental and nutritional factors is important from the standpoint of improving child health. In this study, we analyzed the effects of fecal and total coliforms in the water available at the source and that stored in the household on the spells of gastrointestinal morbidity of 99 Bangladeshi children at three time points in an 8-month period.

Plant breeding: a new tool for fighting micronutrient malnutrition.

The final permanent solution to micronutrient malnutrition in developing countries is a substantial improvement in dietary quality--higher consumption of pulses, fruits, vegetables, fish and animal products that the poor already desire but cannot presently afford. Meanwhile breeding staple foods that are dense in minerals and vitamins provides a low-cost, sustainable strategy for reducing levels of micronutrient malnutrition. Getting plants to do the work of fortification, referred to as "biofortification," can reach relatively remote rural populations that conventional interventions are not now reaching and can even have benefits for increased agricultural productivity.