biofortification provitamin a maize in zambia

HarvestPlus c/o IFPRI2033 K Street, NW • Washington, DC 20006-1002 USATel: 202-862-5600 • Fax: 202-467-4439HarvestPlus@cgiar.org • www.HarvestPlus.org

BiofortificationProvitamin A Maize in ZambiaFabiana De Moura, Ph.D.

IFPRIWashington, D.C., U.S.A.

CIATCali, Colombia

An Interdisciplinary Program 200+ scientists, 40+ countries

Consultative Group on Int’l Ag. Research (CGIAR)

Biofortification-breeding food crops that are more nutritious

Photo: D. Marchand

Targeted: poor people eat staples

Photo: IRRI

Sustainable: farmers can save and share

Photo: A.M. Ball

Cost-effective: central one-time investment

Photo: ICRISAT

Supplementation Commercial Fortification

Biofortification

Dietary Diversity

Biofortified Crops for Asia

2012

Pearl MilletIron (Zinc)India

2013

RiceZinc Bangladesh, India

2013

WheatZincIndia, Pakistan

Biofortified Crops for Africa

RELEASED!

2011

CassavaProvitamin ADR Congo, Nigeria

2012

BeansIron DR Congo, Rwanda

2012

MaizeProvitamin AZambia

Sweet PotatoProvitamin AMozambique, Uganda

Nutrition Challenge

Demonstrate the ability of biofortified crops to have an impact on the nutritional and health status of the target population

Nutrition Challenge

Target Level

By how much we need to increase the provitamin A content in the maize

to improve the vitamin A status for their consumers?

% of daily micronutrient requirement to achieve

Approximately 50%

Women Children 4-6 yrs-old

Requirement (EAR) (µg/day) 500 275

Intake of Maize (g/day) 400 200

Retention 50%

Bioavailability 12:1

Baseline content (µg/g) 0-0.5

Additional content (µg/g) +15

INITIAL TARGET LEVEL: 15.0-15.5 µg/g fresh, raw weight 17.0-17.5 µg/g dw

Initial Assumptions

Nutrition Research

Estimate the Target Level

Efficacy Trial

Effectiveness

Development

Evaluation

Maize Intake

Retention

Bioavailability

Nutrition Survey-2009

Vitamin A status

Age/Gender Group

Year Prevalence Notes Information Source

Children ages 6-59 months

1997 65.7% Serum retinol levels <0.7 umol/L

NFNC

Children ages 6-59 months

2003 53% Serum retinol levels <0.7 umol/L

NFNC

Children ages 24-59 months

2009 57% Serum retinol levels <0.7 umol/L Prevalence adjusted for infection using MRDR test was 48%

HarvestPlus Survey

Mkushi and Nyimba districts

Usual Intake of Maize Nyimba (gm) Mkushi (gm) p-value

n Mean (mean+se)

Median n Mean (mean+se)

Median

Reference child

Season 1 (May-June)

175 154.8+5.5 145 208 165+5.9 144 ns

Season 2 (Oct-Dec)

162 183.4+7.7 171 177 195+6.8 183 ns

Total 337

168.5+4.7 153 385 178.9+4.5 174

Younger sibling Season 1 (May-June)

53 70.1+7.2 53 58 67.8+6.9 46 ns

Season 2 (Oct-Dec)

51 106.3+15 78 56 106.1+7.2 108 ns

Total 104

87.8+8.6 64.5 114 86.7+5.3 75.5

Mother/female caret aker

Season 1 (May-June)

169 260.4+9.2 260 205 311.3+10.9 282 0.001

Season 2 (Oct-Dec)

156 256+8.8 242 173 320.8+9.8 315 0.000

Total 325

258.4+6.4 115 378 315.7+7.4 293

Maize Production

• Both hybrid and open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) are reported to be grown.

• Although the relative amounts of each major type of maize seed has not been calculated, the data suggest that providing both hybrids and OPVs may be necessary to reach the majority of rural households.

Retention

CIMMYT study showed 50% exponential decay of provitamin A in maize grain, cobs, and flour after 4 months of storage: – Genotype, storage time and temperature are the most important determinant

of provitamin A retention.

Study at Iowa State University showed 75% retention of provitamin A maize when cooked into porridge

NISIR Study (2011)

4 genotypes considered for release in 2012

Storage: 6 months (0, 3, 5, and 6 mo)-stored as grains and cobs

Milling: samp and maize meal

Cooking: roasted, boiled, nshima, porridge and samp

Bioavailability (Bioconversion)

Provitamin A Maizeb-carotene to Vitamin A 7:1

Li et al. AJCN 2010

More Favorable Bioconversion

Other bioconversion results for biofortified crops

Golden rice 3:1 Biofortified Yellow Maize 3:1

HarvestPlus assumption for

target levels of provitamin A in maize

Assumptions for target levels of provitamin A in maize, updated with

research results % of daily micronutrient requirement to achieve

~50% ~50%

Age/physiological status group

Non-pregnant/non-

lactating women

Children 4-6 yr of age

Non-pregnant/non-lactating women

Children 4-6 yr of age

Estimated average requirement (µg/day)

500 275 500 275

Intake (g fresh weight/day)

400 200 250-300 200

Micronutrient retention after processing

50%

Retention after 4 months storage: 43% Retention after wet milling and cooking:

75% Total cumulative retention: 33%

Bioavailability 12:1 7 :1 Baseline micronutrient content (µg/g dry weight)

0 - 0.5 0 – 0.5

Additional content + 15 + 15

Efficacy Trials in 2012

Mkushi: Population-based approach (JHU)Nyimba: Stable Isotope approach (UWM)

Zambian Collaborators: NFNC and TDRC

HarvestPlus c/o IFPRI2033 K Street, NW • Washington, DC 20006-1002 USATel: 202-862-5600 • Fax: 202-467-4439HarvestPlus@cgiar.org • www.HarvestPlus.org

Reaching End Users (REU) Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato Project

Image:www.hki.org

• The HarvestPlus Reaching End Users Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato Project disseminated orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) in Uganda and Mozambique from 2006 to 2009.

• First time that a biofortified crop with a visibly different trait (color) had been deployed on such a large scale.

• Project assessed OFSP adoption rates and whether adoption resulted in improved vitamin A intakes among young children and their mothers.

• 14,000 households in Mozambique and 10,000 households in Uganda were reached.

Project Description

The Project successfully promoted OFSP in Mozambique and Uganda. It resulted in adoption of OFSP by:

•77 percent of project households in Mozambique (compared to  9 percent  in the control group)  

65 percent of project households in Uganda, (compared to 4 percent in the control group).

Key Findings: Adoption

The REU intervention resulted in a significant increase in total vitamin A intakes among young children, older children, and women in both Mozambique and Uganda.

In both countries, the change in vitamin A intakes in the intervention groups was accounted for by the increased intake of vitamin A from OFSP.

Key Findings: Vitamin A Intakes

Image:www.hki.org