{"id":11506,"date":"2014-09-23T14:37:47","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T19:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=11506"},"modified":"2014-09-23T14:37:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T19:37:47","slug":"panama-turns-to-biofortification-of-crops-to-build-food-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/panama-turns-to-biofortification-of-crops-to-build-food-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Panama Turns to Biofortification of Crops to Build Food Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Vicente Castrell\u00f3n proudly shows his biofortified rice crop. The 69-year-old farmer provides technical advice to other farmers participating in the Agro Nutre programme in the central Panamanian district of Ol\u00e1. Credit: Fab\u00edola Ortiz\/IPS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

PANAMA CITY, Sep 16 2014 (IPS) <\/span>– Panama is the first Latin American country to have adopted a national strategy to combat what is known as hidden hunger, with a plan aimed at eliminating micronutrient deficiencies among the most vulnerable segments of the population by means of biofortification of food crops.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The project began to get underway in 2006 and took full shape in August 2013, when the government launched the Agro Nutre Panam\u00e1<\/a> programme, which coordinates the improvement of food quality among the poor, who are concentrated in rural and indigenous areas, by adding iron, vitamin A and zinc to seeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see biofortification as an inexpensive way to address the problem by means of staple foods that families consume on a daily basis,\u201d Ismael Camargo, the coordinator of Agro Nutre, told IPS. Panama has pockets of poverty with high levels of micronutrient deficiencies, he explained.<\/p>\n

In 2006 research began here into biofortification of maize; two years later beans were added to the programme; and in 2009 the research incorporated rice and sweet potatoes, as part of a plan that is backed by the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are producing three harvests a year, I provide technical support for other farmers. For now it\u2019s for family consumption, but some grow more than they need and earn a little money selling the surplus.” — Vicente Castrell\u00f3n<\/div>\n

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Panama\u2019s Agricultural Research Institute<\/a> and academic institutions are involved in Agro Nutre, which has the support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation<\/a> (FAO), the World Food Programme <\/a>(WFP), and Brazil\u2019sn governmental agricultural research agency, Embrapa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some 4,000 of the country\u2019s 48,000 subsistence level or family farmers are taking part in the current phase, planting biofortified seeds.<\/p>\n

Adding micronutrients to staple foods in the Panamanian diet became a state policy in 2009. So far, five varieties of maize, four of rice and two of beans, all of them conventionally improved and with a high protein content, have been produced experimentally and approved for release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project began in rural areas, because that is where the extreme poverty is, and where farmers produce for subsistence,\u201d food engineer Omaris Vergara of the University of Panama told IPS.<\/p>\n

She added that in this phase, \u201cthe commercialisation of these foods is not being considered \u2013 the aim is to improve the nutritional quality of the diets of family farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Vergara, the biggest hurdle for the expansion and growth of Agro Nutre is the lack of research infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project is focused on vulnerable populations. Academic institutions will carry out impact studies, but they haven\u2019t yet begun to do so because the studies are very costly,\u201d said the engineer, who sees the lack of research facilities as the weak point of the project.<\/p>\n

According to figures from Agro Nutre, of the 3.5 million people in this Central American country, one million live in rural areas. And of the rural population, half live in poverty and 22 percent in extreme poverty.<\/p>\n

But the worst poverty in Panama is found among the 300,000 indigenous people who live in five counties, 90 percent of whom are poor.<\/p>\n

Beans and rice in Ol\u00e1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isidra Gonz\u00e1lez, a 54-year-old small farmer, had never heard of improving the nutritional quality of food with micronutrients until she and her oldest son began five years ago to plant biofortified seeds on their small plot of land in the community of Hijos de Dios in the district of Ol\u00e1, which is in the central province of Cocl\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Now the 70 families in that village next to the only road in the area produce biofortified crops: beans on small plots climbing tropical lush green hills and rice on nearby floodable land.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these seeds are better and produce more. They grow with just half the amount of water,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez, who has been involved in the project since the experimental phase, told IPS. \u201cPeople like these crops because they have more flavour and are really good \u2013 my kids eat our rice and beans with enthusiasm, you can tell,\u201d she added, laughing.<\/p>\n

Vicente Castrell\u00f3n, a 69-year-old local farmer, plants improved seeds and became a community trainer to help farmers in the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are producing three harvests a year, I provide technical support for other farmers. For now it\u2019s for family consumption, but some grow more than they need and earn a little money selling the surplus,\u201d he told IPS.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife here is very expensive for farmers like us,\u201d Castrell\u00f3n said in Hijos de D\u00edos, which is 250 km from Panama City, over three hours away by car.<\/p>\n

He added that it was not easy for the families in Ol\u00e1 to switch over to biofortified seeds. \u201cIt took nearly a year to get them to join Agro Nutre,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now people are excited because for every 10 pounds that are planted, they grow 100 to 200 pounds of grains,\u201d he added, proudly pointing to the rice plants on his plot of land.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the fourth crop, sweet potatoes (Imopeas batata), was a strategic move, researcher Arnulfo Guti\u00e9rrez explained.<\/p>\n

The sweet potato, which had nearly disappeared from the Panamanian diet, is the world\u2019s fifth-largest crop in term of production and FAO is promoting its expansion worldwide. The incorporation of sweet potatoes in Panama has the aim of boosting consumption and in 2015 two or three improved varieties are to be released.<\/p>\n

Luis Alberto Pinto, a FAO consultant, forms part of the Agro Nutre administrative committee and is the national technical coordinator in the first two indigenous counties where improved seeds are being used, Gn\u00e4be Bugle and Guna Yala.<\/p>\n

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