Many Nigerians should not be misled by side talk and perception towards Vitamin A cassava introduction to the country.Some thinks the crop was engineered thereby classifying it as GMO cassava. An ordinary non- science based researcher will not appreciate these anyway, whereas, a #plant geneticist/breeder/pathologist/entomologist will do. Why? because it contribute to it's research findings in increasing food production.
A good friend of mine Durowoju Imago Dei Anthony in one of his post I was tagged was worried, thinking it was GM crop again that is being newly introduced to our environment, here was my reply to his post.
VITAMIN A cassava is not GMO crop but a biofortified crop and so, #WE ARE SAFE.. Biofortification is the idea of breeding crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding, or through genetic engineering. Biofortification will continues to misrepresent GMO.
Peter Kulakow, a plant breeder and geneticist at the IITA in Nigeria, said thatpro-vitamin A was bred, to address significant nutritional health need
“Hidden hunger caused by lack of vitamin A is a serious problem that has not been sustainably solved by other interventions, especially for women and young children. “If normal consumption of yellow cassava can have a positive impact on the health of women and children, then this will be a major breakthrough
IITA has used traditional selective breeding in its cassava programme, in which selected plants with desired characteristics are crossed and seed grown from the hybrid. Progeny seedlings that have the desired traits – in this case, high beta-carotene content – are selected. The seedlings are propagated from stem cuttings.
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None of the released IITA improved varieties contain products of what is commonly known as #genetic modification or genetic engineering".
Some believes that IITA is involved in GM research, and demanded a halt to any research on genetically modified cassava in Nigeria.
Vitamin A deficiency ( VAD) is a major health problem in Africa. But timely provision of vitamin A in food and supplements prevents blindness among pregnant women and children.
According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind annually, with half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight. And in pregnant women VAD causes night blindness and may increase the risk of maternal mortality.
About 20 percent of pregnant women and 30 percent of children under five in Nigeria suffer from VAD.
In Africa and Southeast Asia, where levels of VAD among young children and pregnant women are the highest in the world, the challenge is to roll out long-term solutions to the problem. Current interventions to prevent VAD include encouraging proper breastfeeding of infants and the provision of vitamin A supplements, vitamin A-rich diets and food fortification.
In SUMMARY:
Bio-fortification:
The idea of (bio) fortification is the concept of increasing the nutritional value of crops. There are several ways of doing so. One is the conventional way, which is selective breeding or by genetic engineering (bio-technology). Bio-fortification is different because the plant is engineered so that it will become more nutritious during the period the crop grows. Unlike conventional fortification, where nutrients are being added in at a later stage or a processing stage. This manner especially, is an improvement for rural populations where commercial conventionally fortified foods or nutrients are scarce or too expensive. For that reason, bio-fortification might be a solid strategy for dealing with (severe) deficiencies in nutrients. This applies in particular to developing countries including NIGERIA.
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