Re: [pronut-hiv] Scientists develop 'biocrops' to boost nutrition (4)

["Rachel Stern" <sternworks@verizon.net>]

If inadequate calories/protein is the problem, biofortification won't help.

Rachel Stern


--- "Jindra Cekan"wrote:



Very good questions. In my experience these crops are for larger farmers. 
For subsistence farmers the need to purchase the seeds each 1-2 years + the 
fertilizer needed to boost their yields is untenable/ unsustainable.
  Interesting about biofortification; I wonder, though about micronutrient 
losses from cooking?
  Best wishes, Jindra Cekan
      Jindra Cekan, PhD
CEKAN CONSULTING LLC
  Food Security/ Livelihoods and HIV/AIDS Proposals, Training, Facilitation
323 11th Street NE Suite 100
Washington DC 20002 USA
  www.cekanconsulting.com
US tel: 202-375-3119
Czech tel: 420-731-106-296


-----Stephanie White wrote:

I have to wonder about these biocrops on so many levels.
1. I assume that these are crops that have to be bought from multinational
companies from year to year. Is that the case? And if so, doesn't that
have the ultimate effect of undermining the strength of agricultural
communities, which, partly, rests in its own, locally adapted seed stock?
Isn't local seed maintenance and exchange a big part of not only the
nutritional foundation of communities, but also the cultural foundation?
and don't they also undermine local expertise about local foods/seeds?

2. Doesn't this result in a narrowing of the agricultural genetic and crop
diversity?

3. Does biofortification really address the problem? If many rural
communtiies were more nutritionally secure in the past (IF that is the
case), why are they more nutritionally insecure now? Is it a function only
of the nutritional make up of crops? Or have farming practices or food
systems shifted, and if so, why? What are the forces that really are
causing nutritional insecurity? If it is just a matter of the nutritional
make up of crop plants, then maybe biofortification would be the answer,
but if it is related to larger socioeconomic patterns, then I am dubious
about the potential impact of biofortified crops.

4. What are the cultural requirements of such crops? Can they survive
droughty periods? Can they survive particular soil deficiencies? How do
they compete with local weeds?

We have to avoid technologies that are merely CLEVER, but look to
technologies, remedies, solutions, and strategies that are WISE. Wisdom is
harder, but lasts longer....Perhaps biofortification does have a place, but
I would guess that it would only be a small place in a more holistic
strategy that first and foremost focused on empowering farming communities
to make the choices and actions that result in community well-being.

Stephanie White

----- ProNut-HIV wrote:
>
> Scientists develop 'biocrops' to boost nutrition
> The EastAFrican
>
> By JOHN MBARIA
> Special Correspondent
>
> Scientists have developed a new technique that loads vital nutrients
> and vitamins into ordinary food crops.
>
> If the technology become widely available in sub-Saharan Africa, many
> of the diseases that are linked to poor diet will be drastically reduced
> in the region.
>
> Termed "biofortification," the new technique promises to be a boon for
> poor households in a region where ever-rising numbers of mouths to feed
> are a headache not only to parents but also for national governments.
>
> Their main worry though is usually about the amount of food on the
> table as well as where the next meal will come from.
>
> Few poor people worry too much about the nutritional content of these
> meals.
>
> But agricultural researchers and nutritionists who support the new
> technique say this ought to be one of Africa's key nutritional concerns.
>
>
> Many diseases, they say, could be avoided if all Africans ate not
> merely generous helpings of the available food, but diets of adequate
> nutritional content.
>
> But this has not been happening because poverty has prevented many
> people in the region from feeding well.
>
> Consequently, Africans, and particularly young children, fall ill more
> often from diseases linked to poor diet.
>
> For instance, in much of rural Africa, the poor can only afford a diet
> based on staple crops such as maize and beans, (githeri, as the meal is
> known in central Kenya) or sweet potatoes and cassava. Nutritionists say
> that although these and similar foods serve the purpose of filling empty
> stomachs, they are generally low in micronutrients particularly iron,
> zinc and Vitamin A.
>
> Scientists say that such poor diets cause blindness, impair mental
> development particularly among women and children; cause general
> illnesses, and even premature death.
>
> Today, close to 70 per cent of pre-school children in sub-Saharan
> Africa are said to suffer iron deficiency, leading to a rising incidence
> of anaemia.
>
> In addition, lack of foods with Vitamin A is the leading cause of
> preventable blindness while foods deficient in zinc contribute to
> stunted growth, increased rates and severity of infections, and
> pregnancy and birth-related complications.
>
> The ideal solution to micronutrient deficiency is a balanced diet of
> fruits, vegetables and meat. But this is not a choice for the very poor.
>
>
> However, researchers working for an organisation named Harvestplus say
> biofortification crop-breeding would ensure that Africa eats better
> quality foods.
>
> They are arming ordinary foods as beans, maize and sweet potatoes with
> such nutritionally-vital ingredients as zinc, iron and vitamins through
> biofortification.
>
> And scientists are upbeat about the scientific procedure, terming it a
> "revolutionary process" that holds great potential to enhance the health
> of poor people in the region.
>
> Biofortification enables plants to take in more minerals and other
> ingredients from the soil and load them into the seeds, thus fortifying
> themselves, says Dr Howarth Bouis, director of HarvestPlus. "It is the
> plants that are doing the work and not manufacturers."
>
> Harvestplus is an international research programme that seeks to reduce
> malnutrition by applying agricultural technology to arm staple crops for
> better nutrition.
>
> To popularise the technique, scientists, agricultural experts, policy
> makers and health experts from the region met in Mombasa, Kenya, last
> week for a workshop hosted by the Forum for Agricultural Research in
> Africa and HarvestPlus.
>
> The participants, drawn from regional ministries of agriculture,
> health, and finance, non-governmental organisations, national
> agricultural research institutes, departments of health, UN agencies,
> and international financial agencies, discussed the latest research on
> biofortification and identified ways of developing biofortified crops in
> Africa and how to make the technique part and parcel of national
> agricultural and health policy agendas.
>
> "By targeting staple food crops grown and consumed by the rural poor,
> biofortification can reach large numbers of people in a cost-effective
> and sustainable manner, leading to a nutrition revolution in Africa,"
> says Prof Ruth Oniang'o, Kenyan MP and lecturer in food science and
> nutrition at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
>
> Foods are complicated compounds and there are fears that loading them
> with newer ingredients might affect the health of the consumers. But Dr
> Bouis says that unlike nutrients taken from animal matter, human bodies
> are able to regulate how much of plant nutrients they absorb.
>
> This means that one can eat as much minerals from such staples without
> exposing themselves to the dangers of falling sick.