Updated Map Shows Biofortification’s Growing Global Reach
Nearly 50 countries are now growing or testing biofortified crops, demonstrating the global momentum to promote these nutritious staple crops to more farmers and consumers. At the Second Global Conference on Biofortification (GCOBII) last year, participants committed to scaling up biofortified crops. Since then, five more countries have released nutritious crops, and an additional eight countries are evaluating them prior to release to farmers.
HarvestPlus has published an updated map showing the countries that are now growing or testing biofortified crops. The crops range from vitamin A plantain to zinc wheat. The map, first launched during GCOBII in Kigali, now also indicates in which countries HarvestPlus is directly involved in promoting biofortified staple crops. More than 2 million farming households in these eight target countries are currently growing and eating biofortified crops.
As more countries around the world adopt biofortification as part of a wider strategy to combat micronutrient deficiencies, HarvestPlus anticipates that more than 1 billion people will be benefitting from biofortified foods by 2030.
Click here to view or download the updated (2016) crops map.