HarvestPlus and Grameen Foundation India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote food, nutrition, and livelihood security in India through conventionally bred biofortified crop production, consumption, and marketing.
The cooperation will concentrate on health and nutrition programs, as well as financial inclusion and agriculture-based livelihoods, to help vulnerable people (particularly women) overcome poverty and hidden hunger.
These efforts will be managed by Grameen Mittras, women agripreneurs who would provide doorstep availability of different services and build a personal connection with farmers via regular encounters, cultivating good faith and trust with them.
These Grameen Mittras are also changing their own lives by acquiring new skills, earning money, and gaining financial independence. A trial with biofortified zinc wheat has been conducted in Uttar Pradesh as part of this engagement.
"We are thrilled with this partnership with HarvestPlus since it directly contributes to our aim of ending poverty and hunger," said Prabhat Labh, CEO of Grameen Foundation India. "By collaborating closely with Farmer Producer Organizations and forward-thinking farmers, we are popularizing the use of biofortified seed varieties, which will help to address micronutrient shortage." The biofortified wheat production on 1,600 acres will be sufficient to cover the consumption and nutrition supplement demands of approximately 60,000 people," he added.
"We are extremely excited to be partnering with Grameen Foundation to help scale up production and consumption of nutrient-rich crops in India," said Arun Baral, CEO of HarvestPlus. "The emphasis on women agripreneurs, in particular, is consistent with our strategic aim of engaging and empowering women as farmers, family members, and entrepreneurs," he continued.
Grameen Foundation India: Working for a Greater cause
Grameen Foundation India (GFI) focuses on developing and executing innovative initiatives to increase low-income people's access to finance, economic possibilities, and health and nutrition information, particularly among women. GFI outlines demand and supply-side barriers with scalable models, the use of technological applications, and innovative partnerships. We collaborate closely with the private sector, government agencies, agribusiness and health practitioners, mobile network operators and value-added service providers, financial firms, and other interested parties to prime our solutions for adoption and scale.
HarvestPlus: A Part of CGIAR
HarvestPlus enhances nutrition and health by collaborating with partners to produce and promote vitamin and mineral-rich biofortified food crops, as well as offering worldwide leadership in biofortification research and technology.
HarvestPlus is based at the International Food Policy Research Institute and is part of the CGIAR. More than 270 varieties of biofortified crops have been launched in 30 countries throughout the world thanks to HarvestPlus and efforts from its various partners.
