CIMMYT & HarvestPlus

CIMMYT

CIMMYT (International maize and wheat improvement center, http://www.cimmyt.org/), located in Mexico, is a research center that works to develop better varieties of maize for the world, in particular for the poor in developing countries. For example, scientists at CIMMYT are currently working to develop maize that is more tolerant to drought, a problem in Africa. In 2000, two scientists, Dr. Surinder Vasal and Dr. Evangelina Villegas, received the World Food Prize for their work in developing new maize varieties that have higher nutritional content and yield more.

HarvestPlus

Micronutrient malnutrition, or “hidden hunger,” is the lack of micronutrients in the diet, in particular iron, zinc and Vitamin A. HarvestPlus is a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to address this issue, using biofortification — the process of breeding higher levels of micronutrients directly into staple foods.

For more information, see: http://www.harvestplus.org/