Improving nutritional value of staple foods

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.