Ensuring nutritional food security through zinc biofortified wheat
Duration : 2013- Continued
Location : Uttar Pradesh (Districts- Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Mahrajganj, Basti, Azamgarh, Varanasi, Chandauli, Bahraich and Balrampur) and Bihar (Districts- Gopalganj, Motihari, Siwan, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur)
Supported By : International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi.
Focus Area : Varietal trials of zinc biofortified wheat and rice.
Tag Words : Zinc biofortification, trials, demonstrations
- Objectives
- To scale up seed production/ multiplication and marketing of zinc bio-fortified varieties of wheat in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
- To make aware the community and other key stakeholders about zinc bio-fortified varieties of wheat.
- To develop a data base along with documentation of best practices/success stories
The key aim of the program is to ensure nutritional security of poor community through biofortification of cereal and pulses crops. For this, SHDA is implementing HarvestPlus program in UP and Bihar. At present varietal trials, evaluation and scaling up of BHU-25 and BHU-31 is being continued. Also, SHDA is conducting trials of zinc biofortified rice varieties introduced by National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha.A total of 15750 households in UP and Bihar have been covered under this program. They are growing zinc wheat continuously and consuming with families. With the result, reduction in diseases caused by zinc deficiency can be seen among families.
Another key objective of HarvestPlus program is to promote biofortified varieties to create demand for seed and grains by households to improve food and nutrition security. To achieve this, SHDA is partnering with several FPOs to strengthen value chains.