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Private Sector Partnerships in South Asia Spurring Growth in Biofortified Crops and Foods

In order to make staple crop biofortification a self-sustaining, scalable approach to addressing malnutrition, the private sector needs to be engaged and incentivized to participate. In South Asian countries, HarvestPlus is involved in several private sector partnerships to ensure efficient and vibrant markets for biofortified seed, crops, and foods.

The approach focuses on improving productivity, resilience, and quality of biofortification value chains, and improving the availability and accessibility of nutritious biofortified products for farmers and consumers, at competitive prices.

Below are some examples of private sector partnerships in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh which are advancing the scale-up of biofortified crops and foods:

India: HarvestPlus and JK Agri Genetics

In India, private sector seed and food companies are among about 100 HarvestPlus partners that also include government and civil society actors. These partnerships leverage the partners’ reach, recognition, and expertise on the ground.

JK Agri Genetics works with the HarvestPlus program in India to identify new biofortified lines and has previously commercialized as a biofortified wheat variety (BHU-31). Since 2017, the BHU-31 seed variety has been sold under the brand name JK 5501. More than 800 tons of BHU-31 seed variety has been sold so far in India.

"At JK, we breed crops to enhance yield by value-adding essential micronutrients naturally. We strive to bring this biofortified seed to the farmers. Growing and consuming biofortified food helps reduce dependency on medicines and supplements (such as pills and powders) for nutrition," said RSS Gurjar, a Senior Breeder at JK Agri Genetics.

"It is our conscious choice to collaborate with HarvestPlus to complement our efforts in building a nutritionally strong India. We hope our collaborative efforts will go beyond India in the future," said Gyanendra Shukla, President and Director at JK Agri Genetics.

Pakistan: HarvestPlus and Family Farm Foods

In Pakistan, Family Farm Foods (FFF) is one of HarvestPlus’ private sector partners that help engage urban consumers. FFF was founded in 2017 by Malik Waqar Abbas, a professional working in the agriculture and food processing sector. Abbas wanted to set up an innovative business model to deliver high standards and value-added foods for consumers. He belongs to a farming family and has considerable experience working in agriculture and food processing.

"As a progressive farmer, I believe that building a partnership with HarvestPlus provided an opportunity to enhance my capacity to help alleviate zinc deficiency in the country. The HarvestPlus team provided technical support and assistance for promoting zinc wheat in Pakistan, including my farms. As a result, at present, 25 acres of my farmland is utilized to grow the Zincol 2016 and Akbar2019," said Abbas.

"The continuation of demand generation activities by the Government of Pakistan and HarvestPlus may be beneficial for raising further awareness among consumers about health benefits of biofortified wheat flour," added Abbas.

Bangladesh: HarvestPlus and Ali Seed Farm

Ali Seed Farm is one of the first and most active private seed partners of HarvestPlus. It is located in the south-western region of Bangladesh and owned by Shahanwaz Ali.

In 2020, Ali Seed Farm produced 200 metric tons of zinc rice seed. Realizing the growth potential of zinc rice, Ali Seed Farm has also initiated the processing of zinc rice grain and has been actively supplying zinc rice grain across Bangladesh.

“For me, growing zinc rice is not just a business. I am happy to serve society by distributing zinc rice seeds to vulnerable people who do not get enough zinc in their daily diet,” said Ali.

Scaling up through local partnerships

“Private sector engagement and investment will help create an ecosystem for scaling up biofortified crops to address the complex issue of malnutrition,” said Binu Cherian, India country manager with Harvestplus, adding that private businesses bring “valuable expertise in distribution, creating consumer demand through innovative marketing and production infrastructure.”

“Harnessing these engagements will help develop sustainable markets and efficient supply chains for biofortified crops to reach the most vulnerable consumers," he added.

Strengthening models for biofortified value chains and making them more sustainable have become paramount to reaching the objective of addressing malnutrition through nutritious staple foods. By partnering across domestic value chains in South Asia, HarvestPlus is strengthening the capacity of multiple stakeholders such as public and private seed-sector companies, mill owners, farmers, and buyers in the local food system.

To explore partnership opportunities with HarvestPlus, contact us: harvestplus@cgiar.org

www.harvestplus.org