Breeding for nutrition

Taken together, mineral and vitamin deficiencies affect a far greater number of people in the world than protein-energy malnutrition. Can commonly-eaten food staple crops be developed which fortify their seeds with essential minerals and vitamins? Can farmers be induced to grow such varieties? If so, would this result in a significant improvement in human nutrition at a lower cost than existing nutrition interventions? Having concluded that the available scientific evidence indicates positive answers to all three of the above questions, four of the eighteen international agricultural research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recently have embarked on an interdisciplinary effort, with collaborators in developed and developing countries, to produce mineral and vitamin enriched varieties of rice, wheat, maize, beans and cassava. Not only does plant breeding hold great promise for making a significant, low-cost, and sustainable contribution to reducing micronutrient, particularly mineral, deficiencies in humans, it also may well have important spinoff effects for increasing farm productivity in developing countries in an environmentally-beneficial way. Any intervention to improve micronutrient status targets women and children because of their elevated needs for minerals and vitamins. The specific strategy of hreeding for mineral and vitamin enhancement of staple foods has several complementary advantages. After the onelime investment is made to develop seeds that fortify themselves, there are no recurrent costs, as wlth supplementation, fortification, and nutrition education programs. No behavioral change on the part of consumers is required. Indeed the strategy seeks to take advantage of the consistent daily consumption of large amounts of food staples by all family members. Mineral-packed seeds sell themselves to farmers because, as recent research has shown, these trace minerals are essential in helping plants resist disease. More seedlings survive and initial growth is more rapid. Ultimately, yields are higher, particularly in trace mineral "deficient" soils in arid regions. Because roots extend more deeply into the soil and so can tap more subsoil moisture and nutrients, the mineral-efficient varieties are more drought resistant and so require less irrigation. And because of their more efficient uptake of existing trace minerals, these varieties require fewer chemical inputs. Thus, the new seeds can be expected to be environmentally beneficial as well.