Abstract
The proposed program aims to improve poor people's health by breeding staple food crops rich in micronutrients, a process referred to here as “biofortification.” The Biofortification Challenge Program seeks to bring the full potential of agricultural and nutrition science to bear on the Persistent problem of micronutrient malnutrition. Micronutrient malnutrition, primarily the result of diets poor in bioavailable vitamins and minerals, affects more than half of the world’s population, especially women and preschool children. The costs of these deficiencies in terms of lives lost, forgone economic growth, and poor quality of life are staggering. Billions of people in developing countries suffer from an insidious form of hunger known as micronutrient malnutrition. Even mild levels of micronutrient malnutrition may damage cognitive development, lower disease resistance in children, and reduce the likelihood that mothers survive childbirth.
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