Basel, Switzerland
May 9, 2005
By Robert Derham,
Checkbiotech
Millions of people around the
world suffer from diseases that are caused by malnutrition. Even
worse, similar numbers die from malnutrition every year.
However, HarvestPlus
has set an aggressive goal to change that.
Speaking to a group of individuals
at the University of
Freiburg in Germany, Dr. Howarth E. Bouis, Director of
HarvestPlus made a
poignant point. He noted that malnutrition and vitamin
deficiencies are serious problems in the world that too often go
unnoticed.
One current method to treat deficiencies and malnutrition is to
give individuals supplements. “Yet, when you consider the
average supplement costs 50 cents per capsule, and that roughly
500 million people require some form of a supplement, that
amounts to 250 million dollars (US) per year.”
Dr. Bouis mentioned how food is often supplemented with vitamins
and minerals in several countries to help treat deficiencies
afflicting a certain area.
“We must remember, the problem with supplements is that you only
treat the symptoms. Each year you are still left with the
problem of malnutrition and the need to supplement.”
The sum of 250 million dollars is a formidable amount to pay on
a yearly basis. When factored over 10 years that amounts to 2.5
billion. Compounding the problem, if diet deficiencies are not
supplemented, a single deficiency like iron deficiency can
amount to over 2.3 billion dollars in expenses that arise from
related illnesses, lost labor and physical deformities.
However, HarvestPlus was able to convince a group of investors
that it could develop six biofortified crops over a 10 year span
that would target the main diet deficiencies in the world—either
eliminating the diet deficiencies, or significantly reducing
their impact.
The six crops that HarvestPlus has chosen to work on are: rice,
wheat, maize, cassava, sweet potato and beans, all of which are
among the top food crops in the world.
Recipe for Success
HarvestPlus has been able to pool
its research core and project management expertise from CIAT and
IFRI, two units of CGIAR. CIAT and IFRI have years of experience
in coordinating international agriculture projects for
developing countries, which help facilitate many facets of the
project.
So far Dr. Bouis was able to report a considerable amount of
success. Wheat, biofortified with iron, is looking very
promising, and they were able to find sweet potato varieties,
which contain higher levels of beta-carotene.
Beta-carotene is something the human body can absorb and use to
make vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiencies often lead to skin
diseases and eye-related problems, with prolonged cases of
vitamin A deprivation often leading to blindness.
One of the most successful projects so far has been with
beta-carotene enhanced rice. Working with a transgenic variety
from Syngenta, HarvestPlus was able to develop a new enhanced
variety called Syngenta Golden Rice 2 (SGR2). SGR2 has 20 times
more beta-carotene than its predecessor, SGR1.
Dr. Bouis noted, “If women and children in Bangladesh were
supplemented with a diet of SGR2, women would receive 200
percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin A,
and children would receive over 100 percent of their
RDA—essentially eliminating vitamin A deficiency in this area.”
Now HarvestPlus is working on backcrossing the SGR2 variety into
local varieties from targeted developing countries. After which,
the enhanced varieties will undergo field testing.
Dr. Bouis explained that for each biofortified crop, there are
five steps that need to be accomplished:
· Germplasm development
· Adaptive breeding
· Efficacy field trials
· Dissemination
· Consumer health evaluations
Dr. Bouis is hoping to better partner with many of the leading
research institutes in Europe to increase the research potential
of HarvestPlus. In addition, he hopes that the EU will take a
close look at the problem of malnutrition, as well as other
potential investors world-wide.
“The figures related to malnutrition are astonishing. Now, we
are hoping the EU will step forward and contribute financially.”
HarvestPlus works with many foundations, governments and other
organizations that form its backbone of financial investors. Dr.
Bouis noted that obtaining more interest and support from EU
governments and organizations would only ensure that HarvestPlus
reaches its goals of significantly reducing, or some cases,
eliminating malnutrition in the world. |
