Biofortification: A way towards nutritional security

The pace of technology growth have saved billions of life from striving with hunger and losing their existence. In the previous century, millions of people died as a result of frequent famines, wars and colonial policy making. India have witnessed several severe famines. But the advancement of technology in breeding, cultivation practises, post-harvest technologies, marketing advancement and information availability have paved the way for happy survival of billions of life in 20th century.

India, once a major importer of food items has now emerged as one of the global leader and major exporter of food crops/items. The need of the time is different. Modern agriculture is successfully fulfilling the energy needs of billions population over the world. In last 40 years, agricultural research majorly focused on cereal production at its center. With the time, there has been a shift from food security focusing agriculture to nutritional security aiming agriculture to combat against Hidden Hunger(when there is deficiency of some micronutrient, but don't show any symptom). 

Scenario over the world:

Around two billion people suffer from malnutrition, while 815 million people are undernourished in the world. The major deficiencies are

1. Anemia- 2 billion people – over 30% of the world’s population 

2. Stunting- 162 million stunted children under the age of 5 years

3. Low birth weight- Low birth weight is defined by the WHO as weight at birth less than 2500 g (5.5 lb). It is estimated that 15% to 20% of all births worldwide are low birth weight, around 20 million births a year.

4. Exclusive breastfeeding – the practice of only giving an infant breast-milk for the first 6 months of life (no other food or water).only 38% of infants aged 0 to 6 months are exclusively breastfed.

The WHO has set targets up to 2025 to manage the right nutrition problem.

Generally there are three strategies fallowed to combat malnutrition problem 

1. Dietary diversification- The inclusion balanced type of food including pulses, fruits, vegetables, animal protiens etc.

2. Medical supplementation- addition of nutrients artificially, either by providing supplements such as vitamin A and iron pills/capsules OR By adding nutrients in basic food products such as iodized salt (food fortification)

3. Fortification- by adding nutrients in basic food products such as iodized salt (food fortification)

Biofortification: The way ahead 

Biofortification is the process of increasing the nutritional value of a crop(consumed by masses) which is an adapted, high yielding variety and commercial in nature by the methods of selective or conventional breeding. The process of increasing the nutrient content of food crops, provides a comparatively cost- effective and sustainable measure for providing micronutrients to masses. As these are staple crops of the area and widely accepted by masses helping in providing nutritionally secure food to larger populations.

This can be achieved either through conventional selective breeding or through genetic engineering. Biofortification differs from ordinary fortification because it focuses on making foods more nutritious during plant  growing, rather than having nutrients added to the foods when they are being processed. This is an important improvement on ordinary fortification. Biofortification is seen as an strategy for dealing with deficiencies of micronutrients in low and middle-income countries. In the case of iron, WHO estimated that biofortification could help curing the 2 billion people suffering from iron deficiency-induced anemia.

Implementing biofortification 

For biofortification to be successful, three broad questions must be addressed: 

• Can the process is able to increase the micronutrient content in crops to achieve target proportion which will have a measurable and significant impact on nutritional status? 

• When biofortified crop is consumed, will it be able to supply required nutrient and the bioavailability of the nutrient. 

• The acceptability of the biofortified varieties by farmers for cultivation  and will consumer buy it and eat them in sufficient quantities?

Examples of biofortification projects:

• iron-biofortification of rice, beans, sweet potato, cassava and legumes;
• zinc-biofortification of wheat, rice, beans, sweet potato and maize;
• provitamin A carotenoid biofortification of sweet potato, maize and cassava; and
• amino acid and protein biofortification of sourghum and cassava.

Scenario in India:

Biofortified Varieties released till 2018 through NARS(National Agriculture Research Service) 4763 total released varieties 

Rice: 

1. CR Dhan 310 - 10.3% protien in polished grain, by CRRI Cuttuk

2. DRR Dhan 45 - High Zinc, 22.6 ppm in polished grain by IIRR Hyderabad

3. DRR Dhan 49 - High Zinc, 25.2 ppm in polished grain by IIRR Hyderabad

Wheat: 

1. WB 02 - High Zinc(42 ppm) and High Iron(40ppm) by IIWBR Karnal

2. HPBW 01 - High Zinc(40.6 ppm) and High Iron(40 ppm) by AICRP PAU Ludhiana

3. Pusa Tejas (HD 8759) - Protein(12%), Iron(42.1), Zinc (42.8) by IARI 

4. Pusa Ujala 

5. MACS 4028 -  Drum wheat variety with high protein (14.7%), iron (46.1 ppm) and zinc (40.3 ppm) by Agharkar Research Institute, Pune

Maize
Pusa Vivek QPM9 improved : It is an early maturing hybrid and possesses high provitamin-A (8.15 ppm). It also contains high tryptophan (0.74%) and lysine (2.67%) in endosperm protein and known as 'quality protein maize' (QPM)

.

Lentil
1. Pusa Ageti Masoor : a pure line variety and contains 65.0 ppm iron..

2. IPL 220: It is a pure line variety with high iron (73 ppm) and zinc (51 ppm). 

Pearl millet
1. HHB 299 : It is a hybrid and possesses high iron (73.0 ppm) and zinc (41.0 ppm) conten

2. AHB 1200 : It is a hybrid and rich in iron (73.0 ppm

Mustard
Pusa Mustard - a pure line variety and contains low erucic acid (<2.0%) in oil

Cauliflower
Pusa Beta Kesari 1- β-carotene (14.0 mg/100 g)

Sweet potato
1. Bhu Sona - pure line variety and contains β-carotene (14.0 mg/100 g)

2. Bhu Krishna (60.0/100)

Pomegranate

Solapur Lal - Hybrid variety, high iron (5.6-6.1 mg/100 g), zinc (0.64-0.69 mg/100 g) and vitamin C (19.4-19.8 mg/100 g) in fresh arils.

Source: Harvest Plus

Iron Pearl Millet

India ranks number 10 out of 117 countries suitable for investing in iron pearl millet.

Nutritional Benefits: Provides up to 80% of daily iron needs

Farmer Benefits: High yielding, mildew resistant, short duration, drought tolerant

Varieties: ICTP 8203-Fe-10-2 (Dhanashakti), ICMH 1201 (Shakti-1201)

Zinc Wheat

India ranks number 3 out of 128 countries suitable for investing in zinc wheat.

Nutritional Benefits: Provides up to 50% of daily zinc needs

Farmer Benefits: High yielding, adapted to the target area of eastern gangetic plains, disease resistant

Varieties: BHU-3, BHU-6 (Chitra)

"Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. Biofortification differs from conventional fortification in that biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during processing of the crops. Biofortification may therefore present a way to reach populations where supplementation and conventional fortification activities may be difficult to implement and/or limited."

-WHO(World Health Organisation)

- Howarth E. Bouis, in Food Fortification in a Globalized World, 2018

- Devendra Kumar Yadava, Firoz Hossain, Trilochan Mohapatra, Nutritional security through crop biofortification in India: Status & future prospects, 2018

- https://www.harvestplus.org/where-we-work/india

- https://www.who.org/

- https://www.wikipedia.org/

- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6366255/