The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) partnered with HarvestPlus to commercialize bio-fortified Vitamin A Maize and Vitamin A Cassava with a target of reaching 34 million Nigerians in 8 states in order to solve problems associated with the high level of malnutrition in Nigeria.
The Deputy Country Director of GAIN Nigeria, Dr. Abbas Yusuf, who represented the Country Director, Michael Ojo, during the National Project Close-Out Ceremony of the Commercialization of Bio-fortified Crops (CBC) Project, disclosed that Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest number of cases of malnutrition.
The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Netherlands. It is targeting 23 million people in Imo, Oyo, Niger, and Kaduna with Vitamin A maize and 11 million people in Cross River, Anambra, Osun, and Nasarawa states with Vitamin A cassava.
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The GAIN boss noted that the project is meant to ensure that the processed foods get to the end users with high quality, adding that though bio-fortified crops are safe and good to eat for everyone, it is important to process them in the right way to avoid food poisoning.
“One of the sustainable ways of addressing malnutrition is ensuring that a very essential nutrient, which is vitamin A, which we see lacking in children, gets together as they grow.
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“Biofortification ensures that rather than you beginning to give supplements, you have biofortified crops like maize and cassava, which are grown at the community, which means that when you harvest cassava, as you harvest maize, you already have the right component of vitamin A, which can be processed and eaten locally for the children and for pregnant women as well,” he stated.
On the occasion, the Country Director of HarvestPlus, Yusuf Dollah,said they developed those varieties of crops with high levels of micronutrients and vitamins in order to ensure people live healthy lives by having access to essential micronutrients and vitamins from the natural crops harvested from farms.
