British government sparks new green revolution with £100m investment in 'super-crops'

A Zambian farmer holds maize enriched with vitamin A and drought tolerant - Libby Edwards/HarvestPlus 
A Zambian farmer holds maize enriched with vitamin A and drought tolerant - Libby Edwards/HarvestPlus

Britain is helping breed a new generation of “super-crops” not only resistant to climate change, pests and disease but also fortified with vital vitamins and minerals.

The initiative could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children who die each year from poor nutrition in developing countries as well as supplementing diets in the west.

The Department for International Development (Dfid) has quietly invested more than £100m into breeding the new generation of super-crops which now stand poised to create what experts are calling a “second green revolution”.

The crops include iron-rich beans that can withstand a 4 degree Celsius jump in temperature, “scuba” rice that comes back to life after two weeks underwater in flooded fields and drought-tolerant maize rich in vitamin A.

The first green revolution reached at least 1bn people and was a huge success. If we can reach our target of 1bn, then potentially it is the next biggest thing

Howarth Bouis, a US economist

Importantly, they have been created through traditional breeding techniques rather than being genetically modified which means they can be planted without waiting for regulatory approval.

“The first green revolution reached at least one billion people and was a huge success. If we can reach our target of one billion, then potentially it is the next biggest thing,” said Howarth Bouis, a US economist whose organisation HarvestPlus has received £87.4m from Dfid to breed and distribute crop varieties fortified with Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc.

About 30 million people – around six million households – have so far benefited from the new crops, primarily in Africa, but the aim is to reach one billion by 2030. A further six million farmers in Asia are using scuba rice but the aim is 18 million by 2028.

Scientists believe that if they achieve the one billion target they will effectively halve the world’s estimated two billion suffering from what is known as “hidden hunger” or micronutrient malnutrition.

The first green revolution, which occurred in the early to mid 1900s, won its instigator Norman Borlaug a Nobel Peace Prize and spawned disease-resistant, high-yielding wheat strains which are credited with saving 250 million lives worldwide.

Agricultural breakthroughs trump medical innovations such as antibiotics and vaccinations for lives saved historically because food is so central to life.

It is estimated one million children a year die from micronutrient malnutrition which leaves them prone to stunted growth, poor vision and illnesses and diseases that have the potential to become worldwide epidemics.

Agronomist Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply - Credit: Micheline Pelletier/Sygma via Getty Images
Agronomist Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply Credit: Micheline Pelletier/Sygma via Getty Images

The new super-crops not only replicate the traits of the first green revolution in having higher yields but also have been – or are being – cross-bred further to incorporate genes that protect from disease, pests, floods, drought and heat.

“Our centres are developing climate adaptive crops. Farmers like them not only because they are climate tolerant but also high yielding. We just need to get them into mainstream markets and piggy back on them with our vitamin strains,” said Bouis.

For the “heat-beater” beans, a staple in Rwanda where the fortified varieties provide up to half a person’s recommended daily intake of iron, scientists in Colombia trawled a gene bank of 36,000 samples to find a Mexican strain capable of withstanding temperature rises expected over the next century due to climate change.

Biofortification | Super-crops heralding the next green revolution

It will not only safeguard the 50 per cent of land that would have been lost to farmers due to higher temperatures but could also open up new markets in tropical areas for the beans.

“Even if they can only handle a three-degree rise, that would still limit the land lost to climate change to about 5 per cent,” said Steve Beebe, head of bean breeding for the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture.

Scuba rice was created after scientists tracked down an Indian rice variety with a gene, SUB1A, which was activated when the plant was submerged. It was crossed with India’s top-selling, high-yielding Swarni rice to counter the annual loss of 4m tonnes of rice to flooding in India and Bangladesh, enough to feed 30m people.

Dr Uma Shankar Singh, a director of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), said: “Sustaining productivity is the most important factor and we now have six million farmers cultivating 3 million hectares. At minimum it is adding 3 million tonnes of rice. We have also developed SUB1 varieties with salt, drought and stagnant flooding tolerance.”

Biofortified beans in Rwanda - Credit: HarvestPlus
Biofortified beans in Rwanda Credit: HarvestPlus

Dfid is now the biggest funder of HarvestPlus, whose work into fortified crops was started in 2003. Nottingham University professor Martin Broadley, a research fellow with Dfid, said the genesis of the programme came from research showing how expensive and inefficient it was to deliver supplements or fortified processed foods like bread to rural areas.

“Upfront investment in breeding iron, vitamin A and zinc dense crops is the most cost-effective way to improve nutrition compared with other approaches,” he said.

According to the World Health Organization, every $10-$15 invested in, for example, the vitamin A rich orange sweet potato produces one extra year of good quality life per individual.

Upfront investment in breeding iron, vitamin A and zinc dense crops is the most cost-effective way to improve nutrition compared with other approaches

Professor Martin Broadley, Nottingham University

HarvestPlus deliberately spurned genetic modification in favour of natural methods. “If we’d invested our money in GM, they could have been left sitting on the shelf. Conventional breeding is not as powerful a science but at least we can do a lot of good with it without the blockages you have with transgenics,” said Bouis.

Government agriculture centres and NGOs are supporting the distribution of the seeds. As it seeks to reach 1 billion, Dfid has put in an extra £4 million to get private seed producers to take up the “super-crops” and achieve the necessary increase in uptake.

The roll-out of the seeds has been supported by promotions including a radio soap opera, My Children, in Uganda to advance the orange sweet potato, a rap song by Rwandan musicians to encourage use of iron-rich beans and Yellow Cassava, a Nollywood (Nigerian Hollywood) film highlighting the nutritional benefits of the vitamin A rich crop.

Women clear wet mud alongside the bank of the river in Satkhira, Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the continental countries most vulnerable to climate change. - Credit: Zakir/Hossain Chowdhury/Barcroft 
Women clear wet mud alongside the bank of the river in Satkhira, Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the continental countries most vulnerable to climate change. Credit: Zakir/Hossain Chowdhury/Barcroft

At least 14 studies are being carried out to establish whether eating the fortified crops improve the health of the communities consuming them. The early results are encouraging.

In Uganda, the orange sweet potato, taken up by 60 per cent of farms in the area studied, saw a significant increase in vitamin A uptake among families, a 9 per cent fall in those with low vitamin A and a drop of up to 19 per cent in diarrhoea among children.

Children eating orange maize in Zambia saw improvements in their sight through increased vitamin A. Women given fortified beans in Rwanda reversed their iron deficiency, reducing anaemia. College students in Rwanda aged 17 to 25 who ate the beans scored significantly better in cognitive tests of memory and speed after just 18 weeks.

A Zimbabwean woman digs out weeds from a maize crop on the outskirts of the capital Harare - Credit: HOWARD BURDITT /Reuters
Studies into whether eating fortified crops improves the health of the communities have yielded promising results Credit: HOWARD BURDITT /Reuters

A Dfid spokesman said: “Biofortification is highly cost-effective as it provides a single intervention which benefits both this generation and future generations to come. By providing farmers with seeds and planting material, they and their households can grow, sell and consume foods that are already vitamin-rich, with no need for additional supplements.

“The crops remain high yielding and vitamin rich for future harvests. This compares with supplements which need to be repeated, or fortification which needs to be continuously added to food products.”

More controversially, Dfid is backing one of a potential new generation of GM crops now closing in on market readiness. It is funding work on modifying plants’ photosynthetic efficiency so their water use is cut by 25 per cent by changing the expression of a single gene.

Micronutrient malnutrition | The global scale

A potential breakthrough has also emerged in Mozambique’s field trials of more water-efficient GM maize (WEMA). Early results suggest it is not only resistant to drought but also the devastating stem borer and fall army worm pests.

Ohio State University scientists are working to create a GM “golden potato”, which would provide 42 per cent of a child’s daily vitamin A.

An agricultural worker observes a crop of maize - Credit: Bloomberg
By providing farmers with seeds and planting material, they and their households can grow, sell and consume foods that are vitamin-rich Credit: Bloomberg

Uganda is trialling a “golden banana” high in vitamin A created by Australia’s Queensland University of Technology by inserting a gene from a Papua New Guinea banana into the commercially-successful Cavendish banana.

It is named after William Cavendish, the sixth Duke of Devonshire, a passionate horticulturalist who developed it on his Derbyshire estate in the 19th century.

Public and political scepticism, however, remains a major hurdle for GM. The salutary lesson on this is “golden rice”, a GM strain engineered to boost vitamin A. More than a decade after it was hailed as a potential game-changer, its progress to farmers’ fields has stalled in a blizzard of regulation and public opposition.

If the next green revolution is to come, harnessing nature rather than genetically modifying it may prove to be quickest and most efficient route.

 

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