Micronutrient malnutrition, or hidden hunger, afflicts billions of people. It is caused by a lack of micronutrients in the diet. Fruits, vegetables, and animal products are rich in micronutrients, but these foods are often not available to the poor. Their daily diet consists mostly of a few inexpensive staple foods, such as rice or cassava, which have few micronutrients. The consequences, in terms of malnutrition and health, are devastating and can result in blindness, stunting, disease, and even death.
Our Vision
HarvestPlus seeks to reduce hidden hunger and provide micronutrients to billions of people directly through the staple foods that they eat. We use a novel process called biofortification to breed higher levels of micronutrients directly into key staple foods.
HarvestPlus focuses on three critical micronutrients that are recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as most limiting in diets: iron, zinc, and vitamin A. HarvestPlus envisions that in fifteen years, millions of people suffering from micronutrient malnutrition will be eating new biofortified crop varieties.
History and Status
In late 2002, the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Micronutrients Project was selected to be one of three pioneer CGIAR Challenge Programs. In 2004, the HarvestPlus Challenge Program was officially launched when it became the first recipient of funding for biofortification research granted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It has also received funding from many other generous donors. HarvestPlus has since emerged as a global leader in developing biofortified crops and now works with more than 200 agricultural and nutrition scientists around the world. It is co-convened by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
