Boosting abilities to develop nutritious sweetpotatoes for central americans

An estimated two billion people suffer undernourishment, or micronutrient deficiencies, which is why CGIAR centers have partnered with national agricultural programs across the globe on biofortification – increasing the vitamin and mineral content of staple crops through breeding.

An example is the International Potato Center’s (CIP) past decade of work developing and promoting biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes to combat one of the most pernicious forms of undernutrition – vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Vitamin A deficiency not only weakens young children’s immune systems, increasing their risk of death from infections or common diseases, it is also a leading cause of preventable blindness, resulting in an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 children going blind each year.