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Five-year $16.9 million project to develop more nutritious, easily digestible sorghum with increased levels of pro-vitamin A and E, iron, zinc, essential amino acids and protein prototype with increased lysine

Africa's leading non-profit agricultural and scientific organization, Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International (Africa Harvest), leads a nine-member consortium that has been offered a Grand Challenges in Global Health grant of US$16.9 million, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The consortium is called the African Biofortified Sorghum Project.

"This grant represents a major paradigm shift in agricultural research in Africa," stated Africa Harvest CEO, Dr. Florence Wambugu. "It is refreshing to note that the project proposal was put together by African scientists for the African continent."

The consortium will develop a new variety of sorghum for the more than 300 million people in arid regions of Africa who rely on this grain as their primary source of food. Sorghum is one of the few crops that grow well in arid climates, but it is deficient in most essential nutrients, and is difficult to digest when cooked.

The project seeks to develop a more nutritious and easily digestible sorghum that contains increased levels of pro-vitamin A, vitamin E, iron, zinc, amino acids, and protein. A prototype, containing increased levels of the amino acid lysine, has already been successfully developed.

The African organization is partnering with scientific teams from agricultural company Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa. Other Consortium Members include the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Universities of Pretoria (South Africa) and Missouri-Columbia (USA).

"In the past, we have been told that there is no scientific or infrastructural capacity in Africa. This has always meant that Africa- targeted research was often done outside Africa, or with minimal African scientists' involvement," said Wambugu. "In our project design, we proceeded from the premise that Africa has scientific capacity -- human and infrastructural -- but this is limited to achieve desired goals. We then went in search of organizations that were genuinely interested in helping Africa and asked them to work with us."

The consortium has nine members, of these, seven are African. "Furthermore, 80% of the grant will be spent in Africa," says Dr. Wambugu. "Even the remaining 20%, spent outside Africa, will primarily be to build African capacity."

"Our Consortium is not looking at short-term solutions, we are harnessing Africa's, and the world's, best scientific brains and technologies to fight malnutrition, which is a major African health problem," Dr. Wambugu said.

"On behalf of the African people, we are grateful to the Grand Challenges initiative. We know that currently, less than 10% of health research funding is targeted to diseases that account for 90% of the global disease burden. Through this grant, we will begin to see a fresh focus on Africa and the developing world."

About Africa Harvest

Africa Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International (Africa Harvest) is incorporated in the USA as a non-profit foundation. Its headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya and it has regional offices in Johannesburg, South Africa and Washington D.C., USA.

The Foundation's mission is to promote the use of science and technology, including biotechnology, to fight hunger, malnutrition and poverty in Africa by increasing agricultural yields and incomes.

Although science is important, it isn't everything. Africa's agricultural development must be approached holistically, so that technological solutions are supported through appropriate policies and institutions. The Foundation believes that biotechnology is not a panacea for Africa's agricultural challenges, but it can act as a catalyst for much needed change, not only in agriculture, but many other areas.