Through a program of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, 130,000 households are growing and eating provitamin A-enhanced orange maize in Zimbabwe, a country where thousands of children suffer acute malnutrition.
The new maize, whose grain is bright orange in contrast to the region’s traditional white maize, was developed through cross-breeding by scientists of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and is being spread and promoted through the FAO Livelihood and Food Security Program (LFSP), along with marketing by national seed companies.
Research in Zambia has shown that regular consumption of provitamin A-rich orange maize is as effective to address deficiencies as taking vitamin A supplements.
“Our family now prefers the orange maize over the white maize, as it has great health benefits for my children and granddaughter and the taste is delicious,” says Zimbabwean farmer Musonza Musiiwa. “I was also pleased the variety is drought tolerant. Despite a dry spell in January my maize was able to yield a good harvest.”
A prolonged drought in 2018 reduced harvests and made nutritious food scarce in many rural areas. Added to this, people's maize-heavy diets often lack essential micronutrients such as zinc, iron, and vitamin A, according to Thokozile Ndhlela, a maize breeder who leads CIMMYT’s biofortification efforts in Zimbabwe.
“White maize is limited in minerals and vitamins and doesn’t contain carotenoids, the orange-colored nutrients that are the building blocks of vitamin A,” Ndhlela said. “Biofortification increases the density of vitamins and minerals in staple crops like maize through conventional plant breeding, while conserving farmer-valued traits such as yield, drought tolerance, or disease resistance.”
CIMMYT breeding lines and scientific expertise are behind continued efforts to develop nutritious maize, said Prince Matova, a maize breeder with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Agriculture. “In the next few years we expect to release two more varieties.”
As elsewhere in the region, challenges include achieving widespread consumer acceptance of food products made from non-white maize.
The work is supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the CGIAR program HarvestPlus.
Thinking zinc in Latin America
“Through dozens of public-private partnerships and farmer participatory trials, CIMMYT is testing and promoting high-zinc wheat varieties in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nepal, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. CIMMYT is also seeking funding to make high-zinc grain a core trait in all its wheat breeding lines.” - Velu Govindan, CIMMYT wheat breeder
Leveraging CIMMYT breeding and the support of HarvestPlus, in 2018 Colombia, Guatemala, and Nicaragua released new maize varieties whose grain features enhanced levels of zinc, an essential micronutrient that plays a crucial role in pre-natal and infant development and in healthy immune systems, and a zinc-enhanced wheat variety was released in Mexico.
More than 40 percent of Guatemala’s rural population does not obtain enough zinc from traditional foods and in Colombia around 22 percent of inhabitants suffer zinc deficiencies.
Traditional foods such as tortillas or arepas made from the new varieties can offer over 60 percent more zinc than the same foods from non-biofortified maize.
“The greatest advantage of working with CIMMYT is their quality research and extensive knowledge of maize and wheat,” said Marilia Nuti, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of HarvestPlus. “Meanwhile, partnerships on the ground with HarvestPlus and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia have helped ensure that this zinc-biofortified maize reaches farmers and consumers.”
The varieties were developed in collaboration with the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and will be marketed by partners in the region including seed companies Semilla Nueva and Maxi Semillas S.A.S.
Quality protein maize improves nutrition in children
Photo: Maize bread prepared with QPM maize by cook Mulu Abebe
In addition to promoting provitamin A-enhanced maize in Ethiopia, where child malnutrition is widespread with large health and economic consequences, CIMMYT and partners are multiplying seed and publicizing the benefits of quality protein maize (QPM), a white maize variety that offers higher levels of lysine and tryptophan, essential amino acids for protein synthesis in humans.
A study in southern Ethiopia has shown that QPM can improve child nutrition in areas heavily dependent on maize-based foods.
Additionally, consumer acceptance testing of QPM in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania confirmed that African consumers can distinguish QPM varieties from their conventional ones in double-blind evaluations and that they are willing to pay a premium for QPM.
Credits:
See CIMMYT Annual Report 2018 for full credits.