| Summary: | Micronutrient (mineral and vitamin) deficiency is one of the three forms of malnutrition, alongside overweight or obesity and undernutrition. It affects more than 2 billion people globally, causing health problems, reducing productivity and curtailing income at individual and national level (IFPRI, 2016). Malnutrition, in all its forms, can be tackled with a healthy diet. Current food systems are unable to provide healthy diets for many, however, especially those in rural areas who cannot access or afford nutrient-dense foods and rely on staple crops for their calorific needs. The biofortification of staples commonly grown and consumed in lower- and middleincome countries (LMICs) with key micronutrients (such as vitamin A, iron and zinc) is a cost-effective and scalable strategy with proven potential to improve the micronutrient access of the population (Lockyer, White and Butriss, 2018; HarvestPlus, 2019; Bouis and Saltzman, 2017).
|
|---|