Scientists at a global grain research institute hope to drastically increase new zinc-enriched wheat varieties that can increase the essential mineral for millions of poor people on poor diets, the head of the institute told Reuters.
Martin Kropff, director general of the International Center for the Improvement of Wheat and Wheat (CIMMYT), said he expects newly developed wheat with high zinc content to represent at least 80% of the varieties distributed worldwide over the next ten years. years, compared to 9% today.
The Mexico-based institute’s research focuses on increasing the yields and livelihoods of the world’s poorest farmers, while addressing the specific challenges posed by climate change, including higher temperatures, rainfall and constantly changing plant diseases.
Improved varieties of so-called biofortified wheat are being rolled out with the help of seed company partners in countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico and Bolivia.
Kropff said the Asian giant China could also start adopting fortified wheat varieties this year.
Over the next decade, he said he expects almost all newly deployed wheat varieties to be nutritionally improved, noting that high-zinc varieties were developed using traditional breeding techniques rather than research based on modified organisms. genetically engineered (GMO).
“This is something that really starts largely this year,” said Kropff, who also noted the zinc-enhanced corn developed by CIMMYT that was introduced in Colombia over the past two years.
“I am very proud of that,” he added, while promoting the ability of seeds to malnutrition through one of the world’s commodities for grains.
The dramatic expansion of new wheat varieties, which had not been reported earlier, promises to improve diets that lack essential minerals such as zinc and iron, which are used to fight viruses and move oxygen. all over the body.
Zinc deficiency, in particular, is one of the leading causes of malnutrition worldwide and is estimated to affect more than 2 billion people.
CIMMYT scientists, with a research budget of $ 120 million last year, have developed approximately 70% of the currently planted wheat varieties worldwide, as well as approximately half of the maize varieties or corn of the world.
The vast majority of CIMMYT research is not transgenic.
The institute was founded by 1970 Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug and leads research projects in about 50 countries. It has attracted funding from the U.S. and British governments, among others, as well as billionaires like Bill Gates and Carlos Slim.
HORN OF “FIRST OF ITS KIND”
Kropff also cited three newly developed CIMMYT corn varieties that are resistant to the Autumn Navy Worm (FAW), an insect that has caused significant damage to crops in both Africa and Asia, which are raise in Kenya with the help of CIMMYT’s corn seed bank in Mexico. , the largest in the world.
“People, (worms) also like corn, but they eat the leaves and also the grains and it’s really terrible,” Kropff said.
The new varieties will be distributed over the coming months for performance testing in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, according to CIMMYT officials.
Kropff, a 64-year-old Dutch scientist, said FAW-resistant corn varieties are the first of their kind and have already been selected for testing in East African countries before similar paths that they were expected in southern Africa later.
He said that CIMMYT, which in a typical year develops and deploys about 35 improved wheat varieties worldwide, occupies a space where larger seed companies that maximize profits such as Germany Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) or Corteva Inc (CTVA.N), based in the United States. they tend to avoid.
“We grow varieties specifically for those environments where the private sector cannot make much money,” he said, explaining that the poorest farmers must also regularly adopt new varieties that can thrive in a world where pests and diseases also they are constantly evolving.
“Small farmers trust us.”
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