Bogor, Indonesia — July 21: Indonesia officially launched Nutrizinc AR1, Nutrizinc AR2, and Nutrizinc AR3, three zinc-enriched biofortified rice varieties developed by the Ministry of Agriculture of Indonesia through the Center for Rice Crop Assembly and Agricultural Modernization, in collaboration with HarvestPlus.

The launch, held at the BRMP Plantation Center in Bogor, marks an important step in Indonesia’s efforts to improve the nutritional quality of staple foods and strengthen food and nutrition security. The ceremony was conducted on behalf of the Head of BRMP by Dr. M. Nur, SP, M.Si., Head of the Center for Rice Crop Assembly and Agricultural Modernization.

Rice is consumed daily by millions of Indonesians, making it an important vehicle for delivering essential nutrients through foods people already grow, buy, cook, and eat. Biofortification increases the nutritional value of staple crops by developing varieties with higher levels of essential micronutrients and complement broader nutrition, climate, and livelihoods interventions.

The three new varieties are enriched with zinc, an essential micronutrient that supports normal growth and development. They also offer desirable traits for farmers and consumers, including good yield potential, adaptation to rice-growing environments, and favorable grain and eating quality.
With these releases, Indonesia now has seven officially released biofortified rice varieties, expanding opportunities to integrate nutrition into the country’s food system.

From Innovation to Impact at Scale
The release of new varieties is an important milestone, but their benefits depend on reaching farmers and consumers. The next step is scaling these innovations. HarvestPlus Solutions (HPS), the scaling arm of HarvestPlus, will work with partners across the rice value chain to strengthen seed systems, support entrepreneurs and businesses, and develop market-led pathways for wider production, distribution, and adoption of the Nutrizinc varieties.

Together, these efforts can help move biofortified rice from crop development and official release to farmers’ fields and markets—creating pathways for agricultural innovations to deliver impact at scale.
The launch of Nutrizinc AR1, AR2, and AR3 is therefore not only an important achievement in crop development, but also a step toward building food systems that deliver greater nutritional value alongside food security.