Biofortification

Biofortification means breeding food crops so that the edible part of the plant (the grain, the tuber, the fruit) naturally contains more vitamins and minerals. Instead of adding nutrients to food later in a factory, the plant itself is made more nutritious while it grows in the field. A farmer simply sows the improved seed and harvests a more nourishing crop. Common examples are high-iron pearl millet, high-zinc wheat and rice, and orange sweet potato rich in vitamin A.

Why does it exist?

Many people eat enough food to feel full, but their diet is mostly rice or wheat. These staple grains give energy (calories) but are poor in iron, zinc, vitamin A and protein. Fruits, vegetables, pulses, milk, eggs and meat would fill the gap, but poor families often cannot afford them every day. This lack of nutrients without visible starvation is called hidden hunger.

Biofortification tries to fix this by making the cheap staple food itself more nutritious, so the poorest family gets more nutrients without changing what it eats or spending more money.

Where did it come from?

The idea became a global programme in the early 2000s. An international research programme called HarvestPlus, founded by economist Howarth Bouis under the CGIAR (a global network of public agricultural research centres), began in 2003 to develop and spread biofortified crops. In 2016, Bouis shared the World Food Prize with three scientists of the International Potato Center (Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga and Jan Low), who developed and spread the vitamin A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potato in Africa.

The World Food Prize called this sweet potato the single most successful example of biofortification. Biofortified crops have now been tested or released in more than 40 countries.

How is a crop biofortified?

There are three main methods:

1. Conventional plant breeding: Scientists search for natural plant types that already have more iron or zinc, and cross them with high-yielding varieties. Over several generations they select plants that give both good yield and high nutrients. This is the main method used in India. It does not involve any genetic modification.
2. Agronomic biofortification: Here the seed is not changed. Instead, the nutrient is given through the soil or sprayed on the leaves. For example, spraying zinc fertiliser on wheat leaves raises zinc in the grain. It works quickly but must be repeated every season.
3. Genetic engineering (transgenic method): A gene from another organism is inserted into the crop when the nutrient trait does not exist naturally in that crop. The best-known example is Golden Rice, which makes beta-carotene (the substance the body turns into vitamin A). In India, genetically modified food crops face strict regulatory hurdles, so this route is not used for India's released biofortified varieties.

A simple way to picture it

Think of fortified salt. You add iodine to salt in a factory. Biofortification is like growing a salt that already has iodine inside it, no factory needed. The farmer's field becomes the "factory".

What nutrients are targeted?

• Iron: prevents anaemia (low haemoglobin in blood), which causes tiredness and poor learning. Examples: high-iron pearl millet, high-iron wheat and lentil varieties.
• Zinc: needed for growth, immunity and healing. Examples: high-zinc wheat and rice.
• Vitamin A (as beta-carotene): protects eyesight and immunity. Examples: orange sweet potato, provitamin A-rich maize.
• Protein and better-quality protein: Examples: high-protein rice, and quality protein maize with more lysine and tryptophan (two essential amino acids that normal maize lacks).
• Healthier oils: Examples: mustard with low erucic acid and low glucosinolates (substances that are harmful in high amounts).

India's journey

India's first big success was Dhanashakti, a high-iron pearl millet (bajra) developed by ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad) with Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth in Maharashtra. It was released in the early 2010s and carries about 71 mg of iron per kg of grain, much more than ordinary pearl millet. According to the government, only one biofortified variety had been developed in India before 2014. Since then, the pace has increased sharply:

• On 16 October 2020 (World Food Day, which also marked the 75th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO), the Prime Minister dedicated 17 biofortified varieties of 8 crops to the nation.
• On 11 August 2024, the Prime Minister released 109 high-yielding, climate-resilient and biofortified varieties covering 61 crops (34 field crops and 27 horticultural crops).
• In a reply in the Rajya Sabha in March 2025, the Agriculture Ministry said that during 2014 to 2024, ICAR and the wider national agricultural research system released 152 biofortified varieties, including rice (14), wheat (53), maize (24), millets (26) and oilseeds (21), along with pulses and other crops.

Some Indian examples students should know

• CR Dhan 310: a high-protein rice developed by ICAR's National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack (Odisha).
• High-zinc rice varieties such as CR Dhan 315 and DRR Dhan varieties from Indian rice institutes.
• High-iron and high-zinc wheat varieties released by ICAR wheat institutes.
• Quality protein maize hybrids from ICAR.
• Biofortified potatoes from the Central Potato Research Institute, such as the anthocyanin-rich Kufri Neelkanth.

How does it link to government schemes?

The government has said biofortified varieties should be linked with programmes like PM POSHAN (school mid-day meals) and anganwadi services under ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services). The idea is that if the grain bought by the government and given to children and poor families is itself biofortified, nutrition improves automatically at no extra cost per meal.

Commonly confused concepts

• Biofortification vs food fortification: In biofortification, nutrients are built into the plant while it grows. In food fortification, nutrients are added to food during processing (for example, iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 mixed into rice through fortified kernels, or iodine added to salt).
• Biofortified vs genetically modified (GM): Most biofortified crops in India come from normal cross-breeding. They are not GM crops. Golden Rice is GM, but Indian released biofortified varieties are not.
• Biofortification vs supplementation: Supplementation means giving nutrients as tablets or syrups, like iron-folic acid tablets under Anaemia Mukt Bharat. It is a medical route, not a food route.
• Biofortified vs organic: Organic refers to how a crop is grown (no synthetic chemicals). Biofortified refers to the nutrient content of the variety. A crop can be one, both or neither.

Why is biofortification attractive?

• One-time research cost, long-term benefit: Once a variety is developed, farmers can keep growing it for years, and in some crops can even save seed.
• Reaches remote areas: It works in villages where processed fortified foods do not reach, because families eat what they grow.
• No change in habits: People keep eating the same rice, wheat or bajra.
• Climate benefits: Many new varieties are also climate-resilient, so farmers do not have to choose between nutrition and yield.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Low adoption: Many released varieties never reach farmers in large numbers. Seed production and distribution systems are slow.
• No price premium: Biofortified grain usually looks the same and sells at the same price in the mandi. So a farmer has little reason to switch unless the variety also yields well.
• Mixing in the supply chain: Once grain enters the market or government procurement, biofortified and normal grain get mixed, so the nutrition benefit can be lost.
• Nutrient loss: Some nutrients reduce during milling, polishing, storage or cooking.
• Diet diversity still matters: Critics argue that biofortification should not replace efforts to make pulses, vegetables, fruits, milk and eggs affordable. A single nutrient in a staple cannot fix the whole diet.
• Soil health: A plant can only absorb zinc or iron if the soil has it. Zinc-deficient soils limit results.
• Way forward suggested by experts: include biofortified grain in procurement for PDS, PM POSHAN and ICDS; give farmers a price incentive or premium; scale up seed multiplication through Krishi Vigyan Kendras and farmer producer organisations; create clear labelling so consumers can recognise biofortified food; and combine biofortification with diet-diversity and awareness programmes.

Concepts to Know

• Micronutrients: Vitamins and minerals the body needs in very small amounts, such as iron, zinc, iodine and vitamin A. Small amount, but without them the body cannot grow or work properly.
• Hidden hunger: A lack of micronutrients even when a person eats enough calories. It is "hidden" because the person may not look hungry or thin.
• Anaemia: A condition where the blood has too little haemoglobin, the substance that carries oxygen. It causes tiredness, weakness and poor concentration. Iron deficiency is its main cause.
• Staple food: The main food eaten every day that gives most of a person's energy, like rice, wheat or millets in India.
• Variety: A specific type of a crop with its own features, like a particular rice that matures early or has more zinc. New varieties are officially "released" and "notified" before farmers can use them widely.
• ppm (parts per million) / mg per kg: A way to measure tiny amounts. 70 ppm of iron means 70 mg of iron in every kilogram of grain.
• CGIAR: A global partnership of public research centres working on food security, such as IRRI (rice), CIMMYT (wheat and maize) and ICRISAT (dryland crops).
• ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research): India's top body for farm research and education, working under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education in the Agriculture Ministry.