A strategy for breeding staple-food crops with high micronutrient density

Abstract

Food-based approaches to addressing micronutrient malnutrition in much of the human population have hitherto been based mainly on balancing cereal-based diets with vegetables, and to a lesser extent, animal products. Although high in micronutrients, these commodities are more expensive foods than staples, and also more seasonal, subject to spoilage, and difficult to store and transport. Moreover, their availability in some countries is only 10–15% of what is required to meet the needs of the people (Ali et al., 1994). Because of the wide availability of staples, their high proportion in the diet of the most malnourished, because field fortification has several advantages over fortification during processing, and because staples are known for their low content of these essentials, we have studied the possibility of breeding to improve plant staples as sources of micronutrients for humans. This is in response to the WHO/FAO call for a food-based solution to micronutrient malnutrition which is considered now to affect more than 2 billion people world-wide (WHO, 1992).