HarvestPlus and Partners Improve Lives
With Iron-Biofortified Crops
Iron deficiency is the most common micronutrient challenge in the world and a major cause of anemia. But there's a practical, cost-efficient solution.
When food is health-boosting
In low and middle-income countries, roughly one in four women of reproductive age and two in five young children are anemic due to iron deficiency—because their red blood cells lack sufficient iron to carry adequate levels of oxygen around the body.
Poor diets lacking in iron also limit brain development and learning capacity, hampering the potential of individuals and societies, generation after generation. Because infants depend on the mother’s iron stores at birth, addressing adolescent iron deficiency is crucial to end intergenerational cycles of malnutrition.
Iron biofortification: A practical,
food-based solution
Biofortification is the process of developing crops rich in micronutrients to have an impact on health. Young children can get up to 80 percent of their daily average iron requirement by eating foods made with iron-biofortified beans or pearl millet as a significant portion of their diet.
In Rwanda, consumption of iron beans addressed iron deficiency within six months among women of reproductive age, which can enable them to be productive in future work and/or as mothers.
In India, consumption of iron pearl millet significantly reduced iron deficiency within four months among adolescents, which can improve their memory and attention in school.
Not just healthy…also tasty and
high-yielding!
New varieties must be attractive enough to convince farmers to grow them and consumers to eat them. Peer-reviewed studies demonstrate farmers are willing to grow and eat these crops because they see the immediate benefits in their children. Field experience indicates farmers adopt these crops because they also contain valuable agronomic characteristics, like high yield, or drought or disease resistance.In 2015, iron bean varieties made up almost 12 percent of bean production in Rwanda. Within households, 80 percent of iron beans produced were consumed by the farming families themselves.
In rural Maharashtra, India, consumers liked the sensory attributes of iron pearl millet grain and the bhakri made from it as much as, if not more than, conventional pearl millet grain and bhakri. When nutrition information was provided, consumer acceptance and willingness to pay was even greater.
Studies conducted in the Latin America and Caribbean region (in Colombia and Guatemala) also revealed positive results for consumer acceptance of iron beans.
Whoever passes wants to pick some seeds and go and start to grow it because they are so delicious.— iron bean seed multiplier in Rwanda
The grain size of this pearl millet is big. We like it and even the cattle eat it happily. There are no pests, it is easy to handle during the post-harvest treatment and is good to eat.— iron pearl millet farmer in India
This bean is really great. Besides being more nutritious, I like that it requires less cooking time.
Sustaining the impact
Encouraging progress is being made to stem the damaging impact of iron deficiency and encourage biofortification efforts more generally. By the end of 2018, 21 countries had included biofortification in their national agriculture and/or nutrition strategies. For instance, India prioritized nutrition in breeding by establishing minimum levels of iron and zinc to breed into new varieties of pearl millet. Advancing efforts to establish a global definition of biofortification within the international food standards-setting body Codex Alimentarius should encourage more member governments to adopt policies pertaining to biofortification.
Achieving global goals
The World Health Organization’s member states have endorsed global targets for improving maternal, infant and young child nutrition. One target aims to reduce anemia in women of reproductive age by 50 percent—and recognizes that a diet containing adequate amounts of bioavailable (absorbable) iron should underpin all efforts.These health-boosting crops can improve nutrition and cognitive performance—increasing the likelihood that more children, families and communities can reach their potential. Iron works.
Nutritious Beans Change Fortune of Kabeza Market Retailer
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Iron biofortification works for health.
Iron Works—for children, families and communities.
