Better food for an undernourished world

The Promise and Challenges of Biofortification

HOWARTH E. BOUIS

Director

HarvestPlus

BACKGROUND

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50

100

150

200

250

Ind

ia

Pak

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Ban

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Dev

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g

Ind

ia

Pak

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Ban

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% Changes in Cereal & Pulse Production & in Population: 1965 & 1999

Cereals Pulses Population

SHARE OF ENERGY INTAKE FOR RURAL BANGLADESH

Staples

Non-StaplePlants

Fish andAnimal

HarvestPlus Program Strategy

Develop micronutrient dense staple crops using the best traditional breeding practices and modern biotechnology to achieve provitamin A, iron, and zinc concentrations that can have measurable effects on nutritional status

Biofortification Comparative Advantages and Niche

• Uses agriculture as an instrument to improve public health – a new tool

• Research at a central location can be leveraged across countries and across time; therefore, highly cost-effective and sustainable.

• Complements other public health interventions by starting in rural areas and then reaching into urban areas

SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Commitments to public R&D of biofortified crops, 2004-2009

• HarvestPlus Global ($48 million)

– Latin Am. Biofortification ($12 million)

• India Biofortification ($ 3 million)

• Gates Grand Challenge #9• Sorghum ($16.9 million)

• Rice ($11.3 million)

• Cassava ($ 7.5 million)

• Banana ($ 1.1 million)

1.2 – 1.8 up to 8.0 up to 36.7Provitamin A Carotenoid levels (ug/g)

SGR1 SGR2

SGR1 and SGR2 were produced by Syngenta and have been donated to the GR Humanitarian Board.

Golden Rice can satisfy vitamin A requirements

Contribution to Vitamin A IntakeP

erce

nt o

f R

ecom

men

ded

Vita

min

A

Inta

ke (

WH

O/F

AO

)

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

Adult Women Children

SGR2

Non-stapleplant

Animal andFish

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2

4

6

8

10

Fina

l bod

y ir

on (m

g/kg

)

1 2 3

Body iron at baseline (mg/kg)

Total body iron nine months after consuming high-iron or control rice (n=137)

p = .036

p = .032

p = .13

2.6 6.0 8.7

+0.1+1.2

-0.5

+0.6-0.9

0.0

Source: Haas, Beard, Murray-Kolb, del Mundo, Felix and Gregorio, 2005. Journal of Nutrition (Forthcoming)

High Iron Rice improves iron levels

Beta Carotene Rich Sweetpotato: increases vitamin A status

Supervised feeding; 125 g x 5 d/wk for 10.5 wk; 1030 g RAE OFSP vs 0 g RAE WFSP; 90% compliance; 250% RDA

van Jaarsveld et al, (May 2005) American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

SELECTED CHALLENGES

Hitting nutritional targets with conventional plant breeding

Micronutrient concentrations in HarvestPlus target crops: Baseline, Progress to date, and Plant Breeding Target levels

20

2

50

2 27

3545

8

95

5 815

40

65

15

95

15 12 15

45

010

20304050

607080

90100

Zn M

aize

(con

sum

edas

flou

r)

Bet

a-C

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ene

Mai

ze

Fe B

ean

Bet

a-C

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ene

Cas

sava

Fe R

ice

Bet

a-C

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ene

Swee

tPo

tato

Zn w

heat

(80%

extra

ctio

n)

PPM

Base nutrient level

Progress to date (2005)

HarvestPlus Target

Reaching the end users:the final challenge

Pakistan Wheat Area

Pakistan Variety Area Share, 1997

0.000

0.100

0.200

0.300

0.400

0.500

0.600

Source: CIMMYT Database

Inquilab 91

Advanced Line

Pakistan, Peshawar

Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato

Reaching End Users

1. Diagnostic analyses

3. Develop products &

markets

4. Create demand

2.Farmer adoption

Extension SeedPrograms Systems

5.Monitor & feedback

Farmer adoption and seed systems

.

Towards Sustainable Nutrition Improvement in Rural Mozambique (TSNI), Project Activities April - September 2004

Demand Creation

Market Development

Demand Creation

Interdisciplinary Communication and Cooperation is Essential

• Plant Breeders• Molecular Biologists• Food Technologists• Human Nutritionists• Farm Extensionists• Experts in Food Product

Development/Marketing• Nutrition Communications Experts• Economists

CONCLUSION

In Conclusion …

“Such intimately related subjects as agriculture, food, nutrition and health have become split up into innumerable rigid and self-contained little units, each in the hands of some group of specialists. The experts, as their studies become concentrated on smaller and smaller fragments, soon find themselves … learning more and more about less and less. Everywhere knowledge increases at the expense of understanding …"

In Conclusion

“The remedy is to look at the whole field covered by crop production,animal husbandry, food, nutrition, and health as one related subject and then to realize the great principle that the birthright of every crop, every animal, and every human being is health.”

In Conclusion

The Soil and Health, 1945

Sir Albert Howard,

1873-1947