strategy
Improving nutritional value of staple foods
Synonyms:
Growing high-nutrient food types Implementation:
As an addition to the approach of distributing vitamin pills and providing injections and food supplements, WHO has funded a food-based solution to the problem of micronutrient deficiencies. Plant scientists in a 15-nation consortium is involving several international crop improvement centres to develop the food-based solution to micronutrient malnutrition. The aim is to help the National Agricultural Research Programmes in developing countries to breed new varieties with higher micronutrient content. The first stage is screening seeds of many of the world's wheat, barley, maize and rice varieties for types with a higher content of deficient micronutrients such as iron, zinc, iodine and Vitamin A. Constrained by:
Depleting soils Facilitates:
Planting nutritious food cropsBalancing local nutrition intakesSupplying basic nutritional needsCorrecting vitamin deficiencies in diet Facilitated by:
Importing staple foodsAdvancing cereal scienceMonitoring genetic defectsExposing nutritional quackeryStudying micronutrient deficienciesDiversifying nutritious protein cropsTraining in plant nutrient assessmentPlanning integrated food plant nutrient programmes Problems:
Decline in nutritional quality of foodDeficiency diseases
Inappropriate selection of crops for non-nutritional qualities
Iodine deficiency disorders
Iron deficiency anaemias
Nutritional deficiencies
Nutritionally-induced mental illness
Protein deficiency in cereals
Soil infertility
Trace element imbalance in the human body
Vitamin deficiencies in diet
Organizations:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations International Triticale Association International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Secondary Crops Development in Asia and the Pacific International Rice Genebank International Sorghum and Millet Program SADC/ICRISAT Sorghum and Millet Improvement Programme References:
Speck, R and Attneave, C: Family NetworksWinnicott, D W: The Family and Individual Development Subjects:
Amenities → FoodIndustry → Commodities
Health Care → Nutrition
Agriculture, Fisheries → Cultivation
Development → Reform
Type Classification:
D: Detailed strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
