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India develops Fortified supercrop,will drastically drop Hunger rate.

Guli Danda

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In its less-than-impressive fight against malnourishment, India is set to deploy a new weapon: super foods from "bio-fortified" crops packed with nutrients. The first of these, high-iron pearl millet, will be introduced in 20112. Indian research facilities are also close to breeding high-zinc wheat and provitamin-A rice and maize. "Together, they have the potential to improve nutrition of millions," said Kedar Rai, the director of HarvestPlus, part of a globally funded alliance that has introduced super foods in impoverished Sub-Saharan Africa.

HarvestPlus is "biofortifying" seven food crops that can help reduce micronutrient malnutrition or "hidden hunger" globally.

Despite a strong economy predicted to overtake China’s within three years, India is among 29 countries with the highest levels of hunger, stunted children and poorly fed women, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)'s 2010 hunger index.

Malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality in India. According to the Lancet medical journal, malnutrition in the first two years is irreversible.

Fortifying the food handed out by the government’s public distribution system (PDS) would be an economical and effective way to tackle malnutrition. "Discussions are on to introduce bio-fortified foods through the PDS," said Swapan Kumar Dutta, ICAR's chief of crops sciences.

In Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat, where millet or bajra is commonly grown and consumed, the prevalence of anemia among children is a staggering 66%. When severe, it also raises women’s risk of dying in childbirth.

Under an optimistic scenario, HarvestPlus estimates that 10 years after release, 28 million people in India will be consuming new iron-rich pearl millet. However, Dutta says the real breakthrough would come from super wheat and rice.:yahoo:

Pearl millet is an important cereal crop in arid and semi-arid tropical regions of Asia and Africa. It is a significant source of dietary energy and nutritional security for poor farmers and consumers in several highly populated regions of India. Pearl millet with elevated iron levels can help reduce iron deficiency, and to some extent, zinc deficiency, in regions of India where it is a staple food crop. It is hoped that some benefit will also be realized in parts of Africa where pearl millet is consumed.

India has been identified as the first target country for biofortified iron pearl millet.

Super foods is the result of a collaboration between India's department of biotechnology, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and HarvestPlus.

Bio-fortified crops, by design, offer a rural-based approach to initially reach low-income groups. According to the IFPRI, their success hinges on three things. First, the breeding must be effective for both high nutrient density and yields. Second, sufficient nutrients must be retained after cooking. Third, farmers must adopt them widely.

Fortified super crop to fight hunger - Hindustan Times
 
Despite a strong economy predicted to overtake China’s within three years, India is among 29 countries with the highest levels of hunger, stunted children and poorly fed women, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)'s 2010 hunger index.

"Overtake"? What is this nonsense...

According to Goldman Sachs, India will not even become the 2nd largest economy by 2050. Let alone in three years...

Here are the actual projected GDP figures:

List of countries by future GDP (nominal) estimates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
That is genetically modified foods! The food is harmful! Can not eat this food!
 
"Overtake"? What is this nonsense...

According to Goldman Sachs, India will not even become the 2nd largest economy by 2050. Let alone in three years...

Here are the actual projected GDP figures:

List of countries by future GDP (nominal) estimates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh my god,Chinese dragon not that GDP nominal again.Anything tragic happened to you recently?Cuz you have been blasting off this future GDP list so vigorously.

http://www2.goldmansachs.com/ideas/brics/ten-things-doc.pdf

india overtake china - Google Search

Stick to the topic,retard!
 
"Overtake"? What is this nonsense...

According to Goldman Sachs, India will not even become the 2nd largest economy by 2050. Let alone in three years...

Here are the actual projected GDP figures:

List of countries by future GDP (nominal) estimates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And for that Goldman predictions: Please leave out your anti India mindset,did you even check out what Golman Sachs report said?
Check out the link in my above post and see the chart of world economies 2050.
:hitwall::hitwall:
 
Stick to the topic, retard!

Thanks for that. :tup:

The point is, in three years, India won't even surpass Brazil or Italy, let alone China. So what the article wrote was misleading, and it is only useful for fanboys.

Overtake in the sense of the Rate of growth

This makes more sense, but I still don't believe it.

Indians have always been predicting that India will reach "double-digit" growth.... but it has never happened.
 
Thanks for that. :tup:

The point is, in three years, India won't even surpass Brazil or Italy, let alone China. So what the article wrote was misleading, and it is only useful for fanboys.



This makes more sense, but I still don't believe it.

Indians have always been predicting that India will reach "double-digit" growth but it has never happened.

You seriously are on a high.The point was overtaking China in growth rate,it just failed to mention growth rate here,but even when it was mentioned earlier you used to troll.
Italy and Brazil are already behind India in terms of growth rate and you very well know it.

And overtaking China,was meant in terms of percentage growth rate and not actual size.You didn't know it,but will now.
 
And for that Goldman predictions: Please leave out your anti India mindset,did you even check out what Golman Sachs report said?
Check out the link in my above post and see the chart of world economies 2050.
:hitwall::hitwall:

Please leave him alone dude.....his opinion are of lesser interest to us. Meantime we have a tremedous amout of work to do in this field..

Interseting to see fortifying common food with minerals....though it should have been done long ago like we did with salt (fortifying with Iodine)

I think fortifying with Iron will bring good results for anemia paticularly in women.....same goes for fortifying Vitamin A in food supplements targeted at kids......:)
 
That is genetically modified foods! The food is harmful! Can not eat this food!

Not necessarily!
refer to this site
Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?

GMC has the potential to solve (or atleast reduce) the problem of malnutrition, as u can artificially modify the protein, carbohydrate etc contents. And u can make the crop resistant to pests thus reducing the dependency on pesticides.
 
Indians do not know that GM foods will harm People's health?
That food can only extract cooking oil or as feed!

Indians should be more access to some "GM foods" information.
 
But my question to the fellow Indians is that,
As long we have Food Ministers like Sharad Pawer, can the under privileged class enjoy the benefits of these crops?
When we have millions of tons of food crops in the storage, still millions of poor people are forced to sleep empty stomach :angry:
 
Not necessarily!
refer to this site
Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?

GMC has the potential to solve (or atleast reduce) the problem of malnutrition, as u can artificially modify the protein, carbohydrate etc contents. And u can make the crop resistant to pests thus reducing the dependency on pesticides.

True to a certain extent....but it can also damage the ecology by modifying pest crop interdependence....whatever has to be done needs a strict viligilance which I think is the case here.......but why India first....I donno......may be because we the world's largest laboratory form which everyone benefits except us.......:argh:
 
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