Vitamin-A rich maize trials could help fight malnutrition in Africa
The new corn could boost the health of some 500,000 children in developing countries who go blind each year; over half of those die within a year of going blind. Vitamin-A deficiency retards growth, increases risk of disease, and can cause reproductive disorders.
NUIG’s Plant and AgriBiosciences Research Centre is working with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to develop the maize. Irish Aid is also partnering.
Conducting trials in Nigeria, maize breeder and PhD student Girum Azmach is collaborating with NUIG’s Prof Charles Spillane and Dr Abebe Menkir of IITA.
“The high vitamin-A lines identified by Girum will be provided to national breeding programmes in countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia for use to develop their own vitamin-A rich varieties for smallholder farmers and the rural poor,” said Prof Spillane.
“Overall, the development of staple crops with improved micronutrient composition and content for African smallholders is set to contribute to both improving smallholder agriculture and prevention of maternal and child undernutrition in Africa.”
Mr Azmach has identified combinations of naturally-occurring genes in maize lines that result in vitamin-rich maize varieties grown by farmers and consumed by poorer households in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The IITA programme has recorded maize as high as 17 microgram per each gram of a dry maize kernel. This is much higher than the 2 micrograms equivalent in common maize cultivars.
The research group hopes to develop and disseminate varieties of staple crops that contain higher levels of essential micronutrients like vitamin A, iron and zinc.
These fortified maize varieties have been sent to Liberia, Mali, and Sierra Leone for testing, multiplication and deployment.
