Browsing by Subject "Biofortification"

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Consumer acceptance of iron biofortified varieties of staple food crops
(2019) Pérez, Salomón; Zeller, Manfred
Micronutrient deficiency is one of the most common forms of malnutrition worldwide. Iron deficiency alone affects 2 billion people worldwide. Since 2004, HarvestPlusis working on the development of new staple crop varieties with higher micronutrient content using conventional breeding methods. This strategy is known as “biofortification.” According to the trait that has been bred into a biofortified crop, these are classified into visible and invisible nutritional traits. A crop with an invisible nutritional trait represents a challenge in terms of acceptance by target consumers since these invisible traits target an invisible nutritional problem. Micronutrient deficiencies are also called hidden hunger, due to the invisibility of their consequences. Iron- and zinc-biofortified crops might be considered credence goods, i.e., goods characterized by the fact that although consumers can observe their utility, these derive from ex-post goods, and therefore, they cannot judge whether the type or quality of the good they receive is the ex-ante they needed. Further, one of the main characteristics of these products is the asymmetric information between producers and sellers on the one hand, and consumers on the other hand. For example, producers might not be aware of a particular trait as their seeds and plants do not show any visible feature, and conversely, consumers might not be aware of the needs and utility of what producers are offering to them. Subsequently, nutritional information should play an essential role in reducing the asymmetric and imperfect information characterizing iron- and zinc-biofortified crops and creating a growing market for them. To this end, this cumulative dissertation consists of four interrelated papers. The first article, entitled “Consumer acceptance of an iron bean variety in Northwest Guatemala: The role of information and repeated messaging,” analyzes the acceptance of different organoleptic attributes and the willingness to pay for an iron-biofortified variety compared with a popular local variety. It addresses the first research question: What are the impact of nutritional information and its repetition on consumer’s acceptance on the main organoleptic attributes of an iron bean variety in rural Guatemala and the willingness to pay for these varieties compared with the most popular local variety? The impact of receiving information about the nutritional features and the benefits of the biofortified variety and its repetition on the valuation of the attributes tested and on the general acceptance was evaluated. The second paper, “Identifying socioeconomic characteristics defining consumers’ acceptance for main organoleptic attributes of an iron-biofortified variety in Guatemala”, addresses the second research question: Which socioeconomic factors define consumers’ attitudes towards some specific attributes of an iron-biofortified bean variety in rural Guatemala? This article provides a deeper analysis of how consumers’ preferences towards some specific sensory attributes, such as color and taste, are defined by consumers’ socio-demographic characteristics. This is the first time that the socio-demographic characteristics predicting consumers’ preferences for the main sensory attributes of a biofortified variety are analyzed. This analysis allows understanding how those preferences are formed based on respondents’ characteristics and of the differences in consumer acceptance of similar varieties. According to the literature reviewed, men are less interested in health-promoting behaviors, and healthier lifestyle patterns, so nutritional information is expected to have a lesser impact on men’s acceptance of the iron-biofortified varieties tested. A promotion strategy of a biofortified variety based on nutritional information addressed to women could be more cost-effective compared to one addressed to men, as women are generally the primary caretakers of children and they influence food purchase decisions and intra-household distribution of food. Based on this scientific evidence, the third article, “The impact of nutritional information on consumer acceptance of nutritious foods: A gendered analysis of iron-biofortified foods in India, Guatemala, and Rwanda”, addresses the third research question: Which role do gender aspects plays in the impact of nutritional information on the acceptance towards iron-biofortified crops? Another socioeconomic characteristic evaluated is consumer market participation. There is empirical evidence that respondents’ acceptance of a new agricultural product –as a new variety– depends on whether its main role in the market is as a consumer or as a producer. Those with higher participation as a producer will be more interested in those market-oriented attributes, such as size, color, and texture. On the contrary, those that are more consumer-oriented will be interested in attributes, such as taste and time required for cooking. In this same direction, all the consumer acceptance trials with biofortified crops carried out have used grains, and respondents are in most of the cases producers who might be more interested in testing seeds instead of tasting grains when evaluating agronomic attributes. In this sense, the fourth article, “Role of respondent’s market participation on consumer acceptance towards seeds and grains of an iron bean variety” addresses the fourth and final research question: Are respondents’ primary role as consumers or producers and their participation in markets play a significant role in how iron-biofortified crops are evaluated?
Micronutrient malnutrition and the impact of modern plant breeding on public health in India: How cost-effective is biofortification?
(2006) Stein, Alexander J.; Qaim, Matin
Millions of people worldwide suffer from micronutrient malnutrition or ?hidden hunger?. The related deficiencies can have devastating consequences for the life, health and well-being of the affected individuals, but they may also perpetuate a vicious circle of undernutrition, low economic productivity and poverty. Hence, in many developing countries vitamin and mineral deficiencies are public health problems of primary concern. While economic development and rising incomes can only address undernutrition in the long run, conventional approaches also have weaknesses of their own. Therefore, ?biofortification? may be a promising intervention. The idea is to breed food crops for higher micronutrient content, which can be done through cross-breeding or genetic engineering. Targeting staple crops that fortify themselves has several advantages: the enriched crops simply follow the normal food chain and are eaten by the poor in bigger quantities. Moreover, the underlying germplasm of micronutrient-rich crops only needs to be developed once and can then be used around the world ? and farmers can grow and reproduce biofortified crops year on year and share the micronutrient-dense seeds. Therefore, the initial investments in R&D of biofortification can be followed by a continuous stream of benefits that accumulates over time and space, which suggests that biofortification can be a very cost-effective intervention. However, a more rigorous and comprehensive assessment of biofortification is still outstanding. This book has been written to narrow this knowledge gap and to offer a sound basis for future research and policy decisions regarding biofortification ? covering both, crops that are produced through conventional breeding and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). For this ex ante evaluation of biofortification, an impact assessment of five different crops (iron-rich rice and wheat, zinc-rich rice and wheat and beta-carotene-rich Golden Rice) has been done for India to determine their effectiveness. The main contribution of this study lies in the development of a methodology that reproduces the whole sequence of effects between the cultivation of the micronutrient-rich crops and their ultimate health impacts, taking into account various micronutrient levels in the crops, different rates of adoption and acceptance, and the ensuing improvements in individual nutrition status. To this end in this book the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) framework has been refined and applied to determine the disaggregate burden of disease of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), zinc deficiency (ZnD) and vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in India. The assessment of the potential impact of the biofortified crops has been complemented by an economic evaluation, because mere effectiveness is a poor guide to policy making when resources are limited. Therefore, a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) have been carried out for each of the crops to determine their efficiency and their overall social profitability. The attributable costs of the R&D for the crops as well as the costs for related dissemination and extension activities within India have been juxtaposed to the expected health benefits. The resulting cost-effectiveness measure ($/DALY saved) has been compared to alternative micronutrient programmes and to benchmarks of international organisations for assessing public health interventions. By attaching a minimum value to each DALY saved, the benefits of biofortification were translated into monetary terms to calculate a lower bound of the social rates of return of the crops. These economic indicators could then be compared to those of other agricultural technologies. While conventionally bred biofortified crops are less contentious, genetically modified crops (GM crops) and, thus, the transgenic Golden Rice are controversially discussed in the ongoing debate about plant biotechnology. Therefore, related issues are discussed in more depth in special sections of this book, where the validity of common claims about Golden Rice is scrutinized. The study concludes that biofortification has the potential to help control vitamin and mineral deficiencies in a lasting and sustainable way ? even though the commitment and the support of key stakeholders may be necessary to achieve its full impact. The various economic analysis have also shown that biofortification promises to be a very cost-effective, efficient and socially profitable intervention, both if compared to alternative public health measures and if compared to other agricultural innovations. Nevertheless, to control micronutrient deficiencies, the importance of a more comprehensive strategy is underlined; in such a strategy other micronutrient interventions like targeted supplementation, fortification, dietary diversification, nutrition education and poverty reduction may all have a role to play.
Pearl millet breeding in West Africa : steps towards higher productivity and nutritional value
(2018) Pucher, Anna Ida; Haussmann, Bettina
The enormous human population growth in West Africa (WA) in combination with serious production constraints is very problematic condition for food security. The alarming status of micronutrient deficiency in WA exacerbates this situation. For smallholder farmers improved and nutritious crop varieties derived from plant breeding could be a major contributor to enhancing agricultural productivity and reducing malnutrition. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is due to its high tolerance to drought and heat, capable to grow under very harsh environments, and is therefore a staple crop in Sahelian WA. Development of multiple pearl millet breeding approaches will be crucial to exploit the potential of this crop.The main goal of this study was to establish a scientific basis for more efficient pearl millet breeding in WA with a specific focus on achieving higher productivity and nutritional value. In order to accomplish this goal, the following objectives were defined: (I) to characterize a broad set of WA pearl millet accessions and to investigate their diversity and geographic patterns based on their phenotype; (II) to identify the potential and strategies to increase the micronutrient level in WA pearl millet; (III) to evaluate the performance of population hybrids and to derive initial strategies of pearl millet hybrid breeding in WA based on combining ability and heterotic patterns; and (IV) to identify molecular markers for the male-fertility restoration locus (Rf) for the A4 cytoplasmic-genic male-sterility (CMS) system in pearl millet using a genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) based linkage map. The major results and conclusions of the four studies are summarized in the following:Characterization of a collection of 360 WA pearl millet landraces at six sites in WA identified wide ranges for 12 agro-morphological traits, which indicated a tremendous diversity. Principal component analysis revealed very large diversity within individual countries, and a high genetic admixture among WA pearl millet landraces. The high admixture indicates that heterotic grouping based on morphological distance or geographic distance is not possible. The published data of this study gives national breeders a basis to utilize this germplasm.In the second trial, pearl millet grain iron and zinc densities showed significant genetic variation in a set of 72 WA landraces evaluated at three sites and moderate-to-high heritability, which emphasizes a high potential for biofortification. Identified landraces with moderately high and stable micronutrient densities appear suitable for use in future WA biofortification breeding. Due to significant positive correlations among grain iron, zinc and other mineral densities and non-significant correlations between grain yield and mineral densities, selection for high grain iron and zinc density can be performed simultaneously without a negative effect on grain yield or contents of other micronutrients.The third trial evaluated 100 population hybrids and their 20 parental populations (with four parental open-pollinated varieties from each of five WA countries) at six environments and showed hybrid superiority of, on average, 16.7% compared to their parental populations (with a max. of 73%), reflecting the great potential of hybrid breeding. The mean grain yield of hybrids based on inter-country crosses did not differ significantly from intra-country crosses. Geographic distance between parents was not correlated with panmictic midparent heterosis, indicating that heterotic grouping based on geographic distance is not expedient. However, crosses between accessions from Niger/Nigeria and Senegal were outstanding, thus initial heterotic pools could be based on this information. In the long term, sustainable pearl millet hybrid breeding will require combining ability studies to develop heterotic groups.Within the fourth trial, a high-density linkage map based on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers produced by GBS was generated using a F2 mapping population, which segregated for fertility restoration of the A4 CMS system. A major Rf locus was found on linkage group 2, which was verified by cross-validation showing a very high quantitative trait locus (QTL) occurrence (97%). The QTL explained 14.5% of the phenotypic variance, which was below expectation because the segregation ratio of male-fertile and male-sterile plants (3:1) indicated monogenic dominant inheritance of this trait. The two KASP markers developed for the QTL will support high-throughput screening for the Rf locus and will facilitate the development of male parental pools exhibiting the fertility restoration, which is an essential step to enable economic pearl millet hybrid seed production. We can conclude that WA pearl millet breeding has the potential to increase the pearl millet productivity and nutritional value by utilizing the enormous pearl millet diversity in hybrid and biofortification breeding programs.
Potential impacts of iron biofortification in India
(2006) Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Stein, Alexander J.; Qaim, Matin; Meenakshi, J. V.; Nestel, Penelope; Sachdev, H. P. S.
Iron deficiency is a widespread nutritional problem in developing countries, causing impaired physical activity and cognitive development, as well as maternal mortality. Although food fortification and supplementation programmes have been effective in some countries, their overall success remains limited. Biofortification, that is, breeding crops for higher micronutrient content, is a relatively new approach. We propose a methodology for ex-ante impact assessment of iron biofortification, which builds on disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and a large household data set. Our analysis of iron-rich rice and wheat in India indicates sizeable potential health benefits. The cost-effectiveness of iron biofortification compares favourably with other interventions.
Prices, governance challenges and contracts in scaling of biofortification
(2023) Richard, Alioma; Zeller, Manfred
Micronutrient deficiency remains a global health challenge, especially in developing countries, despite government and development partners programs, numerous policies, and interventions to decrease its prevalence. Micronutrient deficiency adversely affects pregnancy, child growth, disease susceptibility, and cognitive development. Populations suffer from deficiencies due to low intake of micronutrients such as iron, zinc, vitamin A and iodine in their diets. Therefore, many interventions and policies have aimed at increasing the intake of micronutrients by the target populations. Some of these interventions include fortification, that is to increase the micronutrient content of foods or condiments, biofortification which entails breeding staple crops with higher content of bioavailable micronutrients, supplementation, and dietary diversity. These interventions face numerous challenges to scale to larger populations mainly because of behavioural attributes, prices, and governance challenges. The importance of prices stretches from academia to policymakers because of its substantial impact on the consumption behaviour of poor households affecting micronutrient intake. Existing literature on prices concentrated on the cost of micronutrient-dense foods compared to starchy staple foods and the price change for different food items. The second challenge in the scaling of interventions is governance challenges. Governance challenges exist in formal and informal institutions affecting the value chain for biofortified seeds or foods. These challenges jeopardize positive development outcomes and may as well pose significant obstacles to scaling the use of biofortified seed and food. Lastly, there has been a growing focus on the involvement of aggregators, processors, and retailers in the development of food value chains in low-income countries, yet the role of supply contracts is unknown. The objectives of this thesis are threefold: 1) to estimate the long-term trends in prices and volatility of micronutrient-dense food as opposed to starchy staple food and derive hypotheses for factors that might have contributed to the observed divergence in the past long-term growth of prices of micronutrient-dense versus starchy food 2) to identify the governance challenges facing farmers, seed multipliers, aggregators, processors, and retailers as one of the scaling pathways and empirically test one pathway to address the governance challenge in Uganda and 3) to determine the distribution and performance of aggregators, retailers, and processors in Nigerias vitamin A food value chain. This cumulative thesis has three papers. The first paper seeks to answer as main question: “Do prices of micronutrient-dense food commodities grow faster than prices of starchy staple food items”. The second paper poses the following as its main question: “What are the governance challenges in scaling biofortified crops”. The third paper addresses the question of which factors determine the distribution and performance of aggregators, processors, and retailers in the development of value chains for staple food crops. In the first paper, we used the autoregressive and panel autoregressive distributed lag models to analyze the trends in relative prices and the effects of income growth. The data set was price data for micronutrient and calorie-dense foods from FAO STAT-GIEWS, IMF, and the World Bank. The results showed that micronutrient-dense food prices in real terms grew on average by 0.03% per month more than starchy staple food prices, with the expectation of a 12% growth gap in the next 30 years. The volatility of micronutrient-dense food items exceeds starchy staple foods in most domestic markets. Also, the prices of micronutrient-dense foods were more volatile in international markets than in most developing countries. Income growth in developing countries is hypothesized to be one of the factors that contributed to the faster growth in demand for and, therefore, prices of micronutrient-dense food commodities. Other factors, such as the growth in the production of staple foods may have caused price trends to persist. After having presented evidence that prices of micronutrient-dense foods have grown faster in the past 30 years, and if this trend continues, interventions for scaling biofortification, among others, will gain importance for eradicating hidden hunger. In the second paper, we provide insights into the governance challenges of biofortification in Uganda. This paper aims to identify the governance challenges facing farmers, seed multipliers, aggregators, processors, and retailers as one of the scaling pathways and empirically test one pathway to address the governance challenge. This pathway was information provision through training. We used a Process Net-Map to elicit information from respondents regarding processes, actors, and challenges in the food value chain of biofortified crops. The Process Net-Map involves the identification of actors, their roles, their influence on the scaling of biofortification and challenges in the processes. The field lab experiment was used to collect data on the effect of information provision on the identification of iron beans. We analysed the data from field lab experiments through a correlated random effects model. The results demonstrate that vine multipliers face challenges in the supply of vines, and households face a trade-off between allocating land for orange-fleshed potatoes and other varieties. In addition, the value chain actors adulterate iron beans while consumers are unwilling to pay a premium for orange-fleshed sweet potato roots and iron bean grains. These challenges may result from information asymmetry, merit goods, collective action, and free riding. Though information provision can improve the identification of iron beans, its effect was insignificant as from the field lab experiments. Increasing access to biofortified seed through subsidies would increase the production of biofortified crops that would saturate the markets. Creating awareness of the importance of nutritious products would enable consumers to pay for biofortified seeds and food. The third paper provides evidence on factors determining the distribution and performance of aggregators, retailers, and processors in Nigerias vitamin A food value chain. We used data collected by HarvestPlus to assess the outcome indicators, including throughput, sales, prices, variable costs and contracts for vitamin A cassava and maize. We used the spatial distributed lag model to determine factors that affect the distribution of aggregators, retailers and processors and the correlated random effects model to assess the role of contracts on their performance. We find that infrastructural and supply variables do not influence the location of aggregators, retailers, and processors. Out of the demand variables (population density, ownership of livestock and literacy rates, price of Garri-cassava flour), only the price of Garri and livestock ownership influenced the location of aggregators, retailers, and processors. Contracts seem to reduce the cost per kilogram for aggregators while insufficiently affecting the costs of retailers and processors. Contracts are also associated with improving the profits of retailers and aggregators. The main policy recommendations emanating from the findings of this thesis are: 1) governments need to adopt policies that enhance nutrition-sensitive interventions such as supplementation, fortification, dietary diversity, and biofortification 2) employ subsidies to increase the production of biofortified crops while creating awareness on the importance of nutritious products in the scaling of biofortified crops and 3) create enabling environments so that aggregators, retailers and processors can engage in contracts with farmers.