Boosting Human Nutrition with Nutrition-Enhanced Crops: Perspectives From a Harvestplus Nutritionist.

One in three people in the world suffer from hidden hunger, caused by a lack of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), in the diet. HarvestPlus is an international program that leads a global effort to develop and disseminate staple foods that not only are high yielding, but rich in micronutrients to reduce hidden hunger.   Biofortification offers a cost-effective solution that when scaled-up can complement strategies such as dietary diversity, fortification, and supplementation to improve food security, nutrition and public health.  During my talk I will provide an overview of biofortification and discuss how nutrition intersects with agriculture to achieve the program’s goals.  I will also present latest findings for a project that distributed orange sweet potato (OSP) rich in vitamin A to households in Uganda and Mozambique to encourage OSP adoption, and increase vitamin A intakes with the ultimate goal of reducing vitamin A deficiency.    HarvestPlus is a global interdisciplinary program that works with academic and research institutions, civil society organizations, and the public and private sector in more than 40 countries. It is coordinated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).Founded in 2003 as a CGIAR Challenge Program, it is now part of CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health.