Financial Express | By Ashok B Sharma | October 12, 2003
The US-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has decided to render an assistance of $25 million for combating malnutritional problems in the developing countries, including India. This assistance will also include programmes for improving the nutritional quality of staple food through `new agricultural technology.'
The $25 million assistance will be routed through the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) which is one of the 16 agri research institutes under the apex global body, Consultative Group of International Agriculture Research (CGIAR). IFPRI in turn would initiate programmes for improving the nutritional quality of staple food in developing countries through national research agencies. India is one of the beneficiaries.
The grant will also support HarvestPlus, a global research initiative to breed and disseminate crops for better nutrition, which is being spearheaded by the International Center for Tropical Agricultural Research (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Using an innovative approach called biofortification, agricultural and nutrition scientists will work together to breed crops that provide higher levels of micronutrients such as iron, zinc, and Vitamin A.
According to UN estimate, nearly one-third of the world's population suffers from deficiencies in micronutrients like iron, zinc and vitamin A. Iron deficiency alone affects over 3.5 billion people in the developing world and is responsible for 100,000 maternal deaths during child birth each year. Vitamin A deficiency causes more than 500,000 children to go blind each year and is a leading cause of child mortality.
The director of the HarvestPlus initiative, Dr Howarth Bouis has already identified crops like rice, wheat, maize, beans, cassava and seeet potato for biofortification. However, the grant of $50 million from Gates Foundation provides only half of the budgetary requirement of HarvestPlus initiative for the initial four years.Financial Express:
