Nigeria has instituted two new guidelines for releasing biofortified crops to address micronutrient deficiencies, especially vitamin A insufficiency, which affects roughly 30% of Nigeria’s children under five.
Iron deficiency anaemia affects a significant portion of women and children, and micronutrient deficiencies continue to be a major public health issue in the nation.
These deficits raise maternal mortality, impair cognitive development, and weaken immune systems.
These standards, spearheaded by HarvestPlus in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), the National Varietal Release Committee (NVRC), and other key stakeholders, aim to ensure that biofortified crops meet rigorous nutritional and agronomic requirements.
The newly established guidelines include minimum requirements for registering and releasing biofortified provitamin A and non-provitamin A maize varieties toensure that only maize varieties meeting specific nutritional and agronomic benchmarks are approved for farmers.
It also includes additional requirements for Pearl Millet variety registration and release, which would provide a structured framework for the approval and distribution of pearl millet varieties.
These standards will be crucial reference materials for breeders, crop developers, seed companies, the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), academia, and policymakers.
During the launch event, Dr Yusuf Dollah Fouad, Country Manager of HarvestPlus Nigeria, said guidelines will ensure that biofortified crops maintain essential micronutrient levels to deliver meaningful health benefits to consumers.
Dr. Jonathan Alegbe, Deputy Director of the Maize Value Chain at FMAFS, stated that provitamin A maize is critical to improving food and nutrition security in Nigeria.
He says developing these criteria demonstrates the government’s dedication to agricultural output and nutritional quality.
Prof. Olusoji Olufajo, National Chairman of the NVRC, stated that the standards will bring clarity and uniformity to biofortified maize production.
He further stated that the standards would prohibit mislabeling maize cultivars with varied beta-carotene levels as Provitamin A corn.
Source: TheGuardian
Photo Credit: FreePik
