SCN Food & Nutrition Resource Portal
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HarvestPlus

Published in : 2009

Available in : English

Vitamin A deficiency is widely prevalent in Africa and afflicts millions of children, resulting in morbidity, blindness, and even death. For many millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa (and Latin America) maize is a subsistence crop. Maize is also one of the most genetically diverse crops in the world, and scientists have found varieties that have naturally high levels of provitamin A. HarvestPlus is using these lines to breed high yielding varieties of biofortified maize with higher levels of provitamin A to combat vitamin A deficiency.