eBusiness Weekly
Sifelani Tsiko
HARARE – Zimbabwe is introducing four more orange maize hybrid varieties as part of efforts to step up the adoption high-yielding, highly nutritious and drought tolerant varieties rich in vitamin A nutrients.
Andrew Chamisa, deputy director in the Department of Research and Specialist Services under the Ministry Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, told the Herald yesterday that the consumption of foods made from orange maize, rich in beta-carotene, can provide maize-dependent populations with more vitamin A needs.
“We have released four new orange maize varieties which are critical in nutrition especially for children under five and also for pregnant and lactating mothers,” he said.
“We started the crop trials in 2012 and our first release was in 2015. The trials were a huge success and we now want the seed to be readily available to our farmers in the country. This is an on-going programme that aims to increase the growing o high yielding vitamin A rich maize.”
The new orange maize varieties that were released include ZS242, ZS244, ZS246 and ZS248 with potential yields that range from 9 to about 12 tonnes per hectare.
These orange pro-vitamin A maize varieties have been conventionally bred to provide higher levels of pro-vitamin A carotenoids, a naturally occurring plant pigment also found in many orange foods such as mangoes, carrots and pumpkins, that the body then converts into vitamin A.
These varieties are also high-yielding, disease resistant and drought tolerant, presenting an opportunity for farmers to not only increase yields but also enhance the availability of vitamins and other micro – nutrients.
Health officials say nearly one in every five children under the age of five years are vitamin A deficient in Zimbabwe.
They say these deficiencies can lead to lower IQ, stunting and blindness in children, and increased susceptibility to disease across all ages.
While vitamin A is available from a variety of sources, such as fruit, green leafy vegetables and animal products, these are often too expensive or unavailable to the more than 10 million people living in Zimbabwe’s rural areas, another development agency reported.
Staple crops such as rice, maize, and wheat are the primary source of calories for hundreds of millions of people in Zimbabwe and across the world.
While these crops are excellent sources of energy, they lack some essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, including iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamin A.
Lack of nutrients, especially in childhood, has devastating, even lethal consequences and the World Health Organization estimates that every year between 250 000 – 500,000 children go blind as a result of a lack of vitamin A in their diets.
Health experts also say vitamin A deficiency also weakens their immune system and half of these children die within a year of losing their eyesight.
Zimbabwe has since adopted a bio-fortification policy to help improve the country’s food and nutrition security.
Bio-fortification increases the nutritional quality of crops during plant growth, instead of through manual processing, experts say.
Vitamin A plays a vital role in the visual system, growth, development, and immune systems. Therefore, it’s needed during childhood and pregnancy. Bio-fortified maize has the potential to increase the levels of vitamin A in staple crops.
CIMMYT and HarvestPlus have been working with the Department of Research and Specialist Services, Ministry of Health and Child Care, research institutions, seed companies, processors, retailers and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to promote the benefits of orange maize since 2012.
The government is keen to promote pro-vitamin A maize to enhance food and nutrition security in the country.
“As HarvestPlus we are working with various stakeholders in 11 districts to promote the production and consumption of pro-vitamin A nutritious crops to help fight against malnutrition and lack of vital nutrients such as iron and zinc,” said Charles Mutimaamba, country manager of HarvestPlus.
“Consuming foods made from orange maize, which is rich in beta-carotene, can provide maize-dependent populations with up to half their daily vitamin A needs.”
