A means to fight hidden hunger

Biofortification alters the genetics of plants to make their output healthier

Biofortification is now among the major objectives for farm researchers to develop crop varieties yielding more nutritious foods. The concept, simply stated, involves enhancing the inherent nutrient content of food crops through means like conventional plant breeding, modern biotechnology or agronomic practices. Such interventions are normally made in the foods that are part of regular diets but do not contain adequate essential nutrients, especially vital minerals and vitamins. The aim is to remove these deficiencies and improve the nutritional value of the diets to make them wholesome. The benefits of such research — in terms of reduced physical debility, better health and higher productivity of consumers — usually outweigh the costs.

Biofortification differs from fortification of processed and packaged foods with health supplements. Biofortification alters the genetic composition of the plants to make their output innately healthier and nourishing. This is deemed by far the best means to combat widespread malnutrition that leads to stunted growth and general poor health of not only the poor and underfed people but also of many of those who get enough to eat. It can, therefore, help tackle hidden hunger which is widely prevalent in India and most other developing nations.

Many nutrition-related studies have borne out the existence of imbalanced diets-driven hidden hunger. It is captured more vividly in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) compiled every year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The latest GHI, issued late last year, places India at a lowly 97th position among the 118 countries included in this exercise. More significantly, India is ranked below some of its neighbours like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

This index is based primarily on parameters like the share of undernourished population, wasted and stunted children of less than five years of age and incidence of infant mortality. India’s dismal score is a matter of disquiet particularly because the country became self-sufficient in foodgrains a long time ago and is running the world’s largest food assistance programme under its right to food law. The blame, obviously, lies not so much with the quantitative insufficiency of food as with its nutritionally low quality which leaves even the well-fed people undernourished and weak. The solution, therefore, also needs to be found in improving the nutritional status of normal diets to make essential nutrients available to people in adequate measure.

In line with the global trend, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has also sharpened its focus on developing “nutri-dense” crop varieties to make nutritionally superior foodstuffs accessible to the common man at affordable prices. Instead of mere yield-hike, which has been the prime goal of the crop breeders in the past to achieve food self-sufficiency, nutritional upgrade has now become one of the preferred aims to attain nutrition security. Several notable successes have already been achieved in this field.

Some recently evolved wheat varieties, such as WB-2 and HPBW01, for instance, have a high zinc content of around 42 parts per million (ppm), against 28 to 30 ppm in the normal wheat. In rice, which typically contains less zinc than wheat, the level of this vital mineral has been lifted significantly, up to around 22 ppm, in varieties like DRR Dhan 45 and Chhattisgarh Zinc Rice-1. 

The protein component of rice has also been boosted successfully through biofortification to between 10 and 12 per cent in varieties like Heera and CR Dhan 45. This brings this staple grain closer to wheat in this respect. Maize strains having a mix of superior quality amino acids (proteins) like lysine and tryptophan are regularly being churned out under the “quality protein maize” (QPM) breeding programme of the ICAR.

Globally, HarvestPlus, a donations-driven research initiative for agriculture-based health and nutrition security, is spearheading the campaign to evolve crop varieties rich in minerals and vitamins. The Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics is contributing to this effort. This initiative is focusing chiefly on boosting Vitamin A, zinc and iron content of common foods. The success of these endeavours holds the key to banish hidden hunger in India and elsewhere.

surinder.sud@gmail.com