Professor Clive E. West (Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University) gives a lecture in Biotechnion Building, Lecture theatre 62.
HarvestPlus is a 10-year effort to biofortify staple food crops and disseminate them to the poor as one means to fight malnutrition. HarvestPlus will be undertaken by an interdisciplinary global alliance of research and implementing institutions from agriculture, human nutrition, social sciences and other disciplines in developed and developing countries.
The alliance is coordinated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). HarvestPlus is an initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The Nutrition Co-ordinator will be stationed in the Division of Human Nutrition of Wageningen University.
The United Nations has estimated that nearly 3.5 billion men, women, and children suffer from micronutrient malnutrition resulting from diets lacking adequate vitamins and minerals. Even mild levels of micronutrient malnutrition are damaging cognitive development, lowering disease resistance, and reducing the likelihood that mothers survive childbirth.
HarvestPlus will be launched by a series of press conferences around the world on Tuesday 14 October.