Potato |
Dr Paul Ilona, the
Country Manager of Harvestplus, an international agriculture organization, says over one million small holder farmers grow
bio-fortified food crops in Nigeria.
He said that no
fewer than six million people consumed more nutritious foods from
bio-fortified crops in the country through the efforts of Harvestplus to
address malnutrition.
"Our On-farm yield
increases from bio-fortified crops estimated at 20 per cent over local
varieties, over 8,000 persons are estimated to be employed directly or
indirectly by investors in the bio-fortified sector.
"We trained over
200 extension agents now, continuously rolling out trainings on good
agricultural practices and quality processing of bio-fortified products.
"We were able to
include bio-fortification into four key policy documents of the
Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Budget and National Planning aimed at
creating enabling environment for investors.
"Also,
bio-fortification was included in budgets of federal and four state
governments; over 20 international and local NGOs are mainstreaming
bio-fortification into their livelihood programmes," he said.
Ilona said that the
inclusion of bio-fortified foods into the Home-Grown School Feeding
Programme (HGSFP) of the government was one of its latest achievements.
According to him,
Harvestplus developed and released six varieties of vitamin A cassava in
partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA) and the National Root Crop Research Institute in Umudike.
Ilona said that
Harvestplus it also developed and released eight varieties of vitamin A
maize in partnership with IITA and the Institute for Agricultural
Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.
The country manager
said that his organisation released two varieties of orange sweet
potato, rich in vitamin A, in partnership with the International Potato
Centre (CIP).
He said that
Harvestplus developed over 25 innovative vitamin A cassava and maize
based food products, 10 of which were now fully commercialised.
"Our current
advocacy efforts are led by 15 advocates in the academia, 17 traditional
rulers, 21 women leaders, 25 policy makers and 26 celebrities," he
said.
Ilona described bio-fortification as a natural process different from food fortification.
"Their concepts are
similar, but their applications differ. In food fortification you
introduce new essential nutrients into foods, but in bio-fortification,
the plant produces its nutrient directly and naturally," he said.
it was reported that
Harvestplus improves nutrition and public health by developing and
promoting bio-fortified food crops that are rich in vitamins and
minerals.
ReplyDeleteHello,
If you want to go into farming business, There are so many company platform this days like http://www.virtatrade.com that will enable you as a beginner to raise the fund you need to start up your farming business without you seeking for a loan.
This company platform is where many business dealers from all over the world generate fund that backup their various businesses financially.
I used this company to backup my cocoa beans export business each time my business is running down.
You can visit and register with the company website here http://www.virtatrade.com to raise the fund you need now to go into your farming business now.