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East Africa: Search for Nutrients
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The East African (Nairobi)
11 March 2008
Posted to the web 11 March 2008
Kitavi Mutua
Nairobi
Will sorghum find its way back to the dining tables in East Africa? A new research project currently in progress aims to do that through the use of the controversial modification technology.
The grain, ranked the fifth most important staple food in the world after wheat, rice, maize and barley is to be improved to nutritious levels in an initiative said to be aimed at alleviating hunger and malnutrition in Africa.
A consortium of nine global scientific research bodies under the Africa Bio-fortified Sorghum (ABS) project is to develop the nutritional value of sorghum.
The project seeks to develop more nutritious and easily digestible sorghum varieties for different climatic regions containing increased levels of essential amino acids, vitamins A and E, iron and zinc.
Through genetic engineering, selected genes, mainly from plant sources, will be introduced into the genome of sorghum in a gradual way that the researchers say will not compromise other attributes of the grain performance.
Prof Abdulkadir Egal, a researcher at the Vaal University of Technology in South Africa, says the effort to deliver nutrition to the starving populace through sorghum is viable as the crop is native to the continent.
According to him, a diet based primarily on ordinary sorghum is not adequate to meet the nutritional growth requirements of children and adults, and needs to be supplemented with additional proteins and micro-nutrients.
"In many developing countries where poor families predominantly depend on plant-based diets, deficiencies of these micro-nutrients are common," he says.
"Infants, children, as well as pregnant and lactating mothers are mostly at risk due to their heavy nutritional needs."
If the project succeeds, its backers say it will significantly improve the health of more than 300 million people globally.
Millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from health problems associated with vitamin and mineral deficiency. The situation is made worse by arid climates and poor soils that cannot support the production of the foods like fruits and vegetables needed to naturally supply these essential nutrients.
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 80 PER cent of children in the region receive inadequate amounts of Vitamin A, half the entire population suffers from iron deficiency, while a third have zinc deficiency.
Sorghum is one of the few crops that grow well in arid climates, but it lacks most essential nutrients, hence the need to improve it.
Dr Florence Wambugu, the chief executive of Africa Harvest, says that in the wake of global warming, food security cannot be achieved without improving indigenous grain crops like sorghum and other staple foods.
"Malnutrition remains a leading cause of non-communicable diseases in Africa, where lack of essential micro-nutrients result in low immunity, blindness, low birth weight, and stunted neuro-psychological development," Dr Wambugu said.
She added that the nine-member consortium had adopted the GM technology because the regular breeding approaches cannot produce the desired results.
"We hope to substantially improve grain digestibility and make the essential vitamins and micro-nutrients available," she added.
The ABS project chose sorghum for its drought resistant nature unlike other cereals such as maize and rice which require high rainfall.
Sorghum is well-known for its ability to tolerate limited moisture and thrive during periods of extended drought.
Briefing a forum on the progress of the project in Pretoria, Dr Wambugu urged African governments to enact laws and policies that create an enabling environment for bio-technology.
"Most African countries either lack or are in the process of developing policy and institutional arrangements to effectively deal with the challenge of bio-technology" she said.
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She warned that micro-nutrient deficiency in Africa was a rapidly growing public health problem.
The project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the tune of $18.5 million.
The Foundation has launched the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative to improve health in world's poorest countries through science and technology.
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