{"id":8953,"date":"2011-12-08T17:04:44","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T17:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/nigerians-to-enjoy-fortified-cassava-by-2014-%e2%80%93-iita\/"},"modified":"2011-12-08T17:04:44","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T17:04:44","slug":"nigerians-to-enjoy-fortified-cassava-by-2014-iita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/08\/nigerians-to-enjoy-fortified-cassava-by-2014-iita\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerians to enjoy fortified cassava by 2014 \u2013 IITA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Ibadan \u2013 By the middle of\u00a0 2014, more than 150,000 households in Nigeria are expected to be eating vitamin A fortified yellow cassava, an international agricultural organisation, HarvestPlus, said<\/p>\n

HarvestPlus\u00a0 is an international partner of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)\u00a0 leading\u00a0 a global effort to breed and disseminate micro-nutrient-rich staple food crops to reduce hunger in malnourished populations.<\/p>\n

In a release in Ibadan on Thursday,\u00a0 IITA quoted HarvestPlus as saying that\u00a0 yellow cassava varieties could provide more vitamin A in the diets of more than 70 million Nigerians, who ate cassava everyday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

President Goodluck Jonathan presenting the 40% Cassava flour-baked bread to the public during the weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation at the State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 30\/11\/2011<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The release, signed by Godwin Atser, the spokesman for IITA,\u00a0 stated that yellow cassava varieties were\u00a0 already being multiplied through stem cuttings.<\/p>\n

It said that\u00a0 by 2013 when sufficient certified stems would be\u00a0 available for HarvestPlus and its partners to distribute to about 25,000 farming households initially.<\/p>\n

The release said farmers would be able to grow the new vitamin A varieties and feed their families on them and in addition, multiply and share cuttings with others in the community,\u00a0 thus amplifying the nutritional benefits.<\/p>\n

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is widely prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa,\u00a0 afflicting almost 20 per cent of pregnant women and about 30 per cent of children under the age of five in Nigeria, the release stated.<\/p>\n

It added that VAD could\u00a0 lower immunity and impair vision, leading to blindness and even death.<\/p>\n

The release stated that\u00a0 children and women would be the main beneficiaries of these new yellow varieties, which could provide up to 25 per cent of\u00a0 daily vitamin A needs.<\/p>\n

It said that varieties with enough vitamin A to provide up to half of daily needs were already in the breeding pipeline and should be ready for release in a few years.<\/p>\n

The release said\u00a0 new yellow varieties bred using traditional (non-transgenic) methods by\u00a0 IITA and\u00a0\u00a0 National Root Crops Research Institute\u00a0 were liked by farmers during field trials.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemand for these varieties has already started but it will take some time before we have enough quantities to give out,\u201d said Paul Ilona, the HarvestPlus Manager for Nigeria .<\/p>\n

Although the cassava initiative is being\u00a0 funded by HarvestPlus,\u00a0 other partners include the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and Nigerian government agencies, the release explained.<\/p>\n

Cassava, an extremely adaptable crop, is drought tolerant, requires limited land preparation and grows well in poor soils<\/p>\n

As part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Programme\u00a0 on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health, the global initiative\u00a0 is coordinated by CIAT and the International Food Policy Research Institute. (NAN)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\nNigerians to enjoy fortified cassava by 2014 \u2013 IITA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ibadan \u2013 By the middle of\u00a0 2014, more than 150,000 households in Nigeria are expected to be eating vitamin A fortified yellow cassava, an international agricultural organisation, HarvestPlus, said HarvestPlus\u00a0 is an international partner of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)\u00a0 leading\u00a0 a global effort to breed and disseminate micro-nutrient-rich staple food crops to reduce hunger in malnourished populations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nNigerians to enjoy fortified cassava by 2014 \u2013 IITA - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/08\/nigerians-to-enjoy-fortified-cassava-by-2014-iita\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nigerians to enjoy fortified cassava by 2014 \u2013 IITA - 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