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Dietary micro-nutrient (vitamins, minerals) and macro-nutrient (protein, lipids, carbohydrate) insufficiency are key factors contributing to morbidity and poverty in the developing world. Food aid and food supplements are clearly not a sustainable answer to this global epidemic. Changing cropping systems can result in the delivery of a balanced diet but there are significant barriers to its widespread adoption in developing countries. The most appropriate strategy is to improve the nutritive value of currently accepted foods, particularly crop plants. Although there is evidence that nutrient content can be increased by conventional plant breeding, there are few successful examples of this strategy in the staple crops of developing countries.
The Tropical Crops and Biocommodities domain of IHBI is spear-heading an international effort to genetically engineer nutritionally fortified bananas for release to farmers in Uganda. Despite its position as the second largest banana producer in the world, Uganda does not export banana’s which underscores the importance of this fruit as a staple food crop.
The Grand Challenges in Global Health project, ‘Development of Bananas with Optimised Bioavailable Micronutrients’ aims to boost the nutritional value of the East African highland banana, the variety that provides the basis of the Ugandan diet.
Uganda's National Agricultural Research Organisation and ProCell Inc (USA) are project partners with the Tropical Crops and Biocommodities domain of IHBI and the grant supporting this research was generously provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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