Vitamin A Enhanced Cassava Will Save $1.5bn, Annually

The consumption of vitamin A enhanaced cassava could help Nigeria reduce economic losses in Gross Domestic Product GDP that is estimated at about $1.5 billion says the Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga.

Sangingaly stated this at a public presentation of pro-vitamin A varieties by the Nigeria government in Umudike last weekend in Abia State said that more than economic savings, it will also improve the nutrition of women and children who are the most vulnerable.

Represented by the coordinator Cassava Enterprise Development Project, IITA, Dr. Gbassey Tarawali, Sanginga commended the Nigerian government for taking the lead in bio-fortification with the release of the cassava varieties to farmers.

He canvassed for joint efforts from partners and the private sector to ensure that the pro-vitamin A rich varieties got to the hands of resource-poor farmers.

“Today we have varieties that have beta-carotene that could help tackle vitamin A deficiency, what is needed now is to get these varieties to farmers with the support of all stakeholders” he said.

Elsewhere in some developing countries, Vitamin A deficiency remains a major bottleneck to improve nutrition with approximately 250,000 to 500,000 malnourished children going blind each year and half of whom die within a year of becoming blind.

The prevalence of night blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is also high among pregnant women in many developing countries.

“Vitamin A deficiency also contributes to maternal mortality and other poor out comes in pregnancy and lactation”, according to the Minister of Agriculture, and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina.

“Annually, Nigeria loses over $1.5 billion in GDP to vitamin and mineral deficiencies as many staple foods are low in essential micronutrients”, he added.

Adesina said that it was crucial that Nigeria accelerates efforts and policy measures on improving health and nutrition of vulnerable groups, especially women, infants and children, adding that scaling up core micronutrient interventions would cost less than $188 million per year which makes economic sense.

To popularise the pro-vitamin A cassava, he said greater efforts would be needed to increase the nutrition capacity within the Ministries of Health and Agriculture and Rural Development, improve infant feeding and young child feeding through effective education and counselling services.

The minister also gave the governments support to the dissemination of the pro-vitamin A varieties by directing the inclusion of Abia State.

If would be recalled that in December 2011, the Federal Government announced the release of the pro-vitamin A cassava varieties developed by IITA  in partnership with the National Roots Crops Research Institute, Umudike, (NRCRI) a project funded by Harvest plus.

The vitamin A cassava varieties are named by the National Variety Release Committee of Nigeria as UMUCASS 36, UMUCASS 37, and UMUCASS 38 and are recognised as IITA genotypes TMS 01/1368, TMS 01/1412, and TMS 01/1371.