| Addressing micronutrient deficiencies in urban and peri-urban populations in West and Central Africa through Musa–based foods |
 |
| Duration |
The project has no determined duration. It started in 2005 and continues on an annually-renewable basis
|
| Total grant |
431,306US$ (2005-2008)
|
| Donor |
HarvestPlus Challenge Programme |
| Location |
West and Central Africa: Cameroon, Ghana and other countries may be incorporated |
| Goal |
The project aims to improve the availability of micronutrient-rich foods and food-processing technologies that maximize micronutrient retention to vulnerable urban and peri-urban human populations in West and Central Africa |
| Brief description |
Banana and plantain (Musa) cultivars show wide ranging differences in nutrient content, particularly of micronutrients such as carotenes which are converted into Vitamin A in the human body. While carotene content in the exported dessert banana is negligible, some orange-fleshed cultivars have been shown to contain high levels of carotenes to meet a large part of the daily recommended adult needs for Vitamin A.
This project aims to improve the availability of high-micronutrient foods for populations that are vulnerable to micronutrient deficiency through investigating a range of potential impact pathways.
The fast-track phase will evaluate existing cultivars, production technologies, harvesting and handling practices, and cooking and processing methods of both indigenous street and home-made foods, focusing particularly on the content and retention of carotenes, iron and zinc. Simple solutions will be pursued to enhance the production and processing of Musa-based foods to maximize micronutrient content and retention.
In addition, long-term impact pathways will be investigated to introduce high-micronutrient cultivars from other parts of the world and possibly to produce high-micronutrient varieties through genetic improvement.
While the project promises important advances in basic research and in determining some of the nutritional values of consuming banana and plantain, a major focus is to identify, target and involve the potential beneficiaries and ensure that the project's resources are invested in areas that will have a positive impact.
|
| Partners |
• Centre Africain de Recherches sur Bananiers et Plantains (CARBAP), Cameroon
• Crops Research Institute (CRI), Ghana
• Food Research Institute (FRI), Ghana
• Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Philippines
• Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Fiji
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven), Belgium
|
| Coordination |
Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir
.
|
|
Harvest Plus Grant