Fortified Wheat as Foreign Aid

Posted on Wednesday, February 8, 2012

 

In an article for Stock & Land writer Matthew Cawood describes a new idea for the future of foreign aid programs in Australia.

 

"THE most valuable aid that Australia could lend to some developing countries is zinc-fortified wheat, a visiting crop researcher has said.

Ismail Cakmak, an award-winning Turkish researcher who leads an international zinc fertiliser project under the HarvestPlus program, wants governments to think differently about how they deliver aid.

Getting adequate food is a problem for an estimated billion people, but a deficiency of zinc and a related nutrient, Vitamin A, is a problem for some two billion - a third of the world's population.

Zinc deficiency can impair brain development, physical development and reduce effectiveness of the immune system. In 2008 it was estimated that 450,000 children died from causes relating to inadequate zinc."

To view the entire article, click here.