The National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) in Zambia has called on relevant authorities to adopt orange maize as a diet aimed at improving vitamin-A in children.
This follows a study which has established that “orange” vitamin-A maize increases vitamin A storage in the body and has higher levels of beta-carotene, a natural plant pigment that the body converts into Vitamin-A.
The study, which has been done in collaboration with Harvest Plus and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is part of commemorations of World Food Day which falls today the 16th October, 2014.
In a statement to ZANIS in Lusaka today, lead scientist Sherry Tanumihardjo said there was a significant increase in vitamin A in children after eating orange maize adding that this would be effective in reducing vitamin-A deficiency in the population
Ms. Tanumihardjo added that the conversion of beta-carotene into Vitamin-A was not harmful to health as the body regulates during the process.
And National Food and Nutrition Commission Acting Executive Director, Musonda Mofu, said food-based approaches such as orange maize can provide people, particularly women and children, with a good portion of vitamin-A which is crucial for their health.
Mr. Mofu said this would be through intake of nshima or other traditional foods made from maize that Zambians eat every day.She affirmed that vitamin-A deficiency remains a challenge in several parts of the country.
“There are still many pockets where vitamin-A deficiency remains a problem in Zambia. For us, this is cost-effective and a safe approach to improving nutrition,” he said.
Meanwhile, Harvest Plus Country Manager Eliab Simpungwe said his organization targets to provide orange maize varieties to at least 100, 000 farmers by 2015.
Mr. Simpungwe said orange maize has been bred specifically for human consumption and is not the same as yellow maize which was popular as feed for animals.
“When consumers have had a chance to taste orange nshima, they prefer it to white nshima. And when they also understand the benefits of vitamin-A in the diets, they are all the more enthusiastic about orange maize,” he said.
The Zambian government was the first to release orange maize varieties in Africa and has supported Harvest Plus in its efforts to provide orange maize to more than 10,000 farming households.
The Orange maize study has been published under the title “Bio-fortified orange maize is as efficacious as a vitamin-A supplement in Zambian children even in the presence of high liver reserves of vitamin-A: a community-based, randomized placebo-controlled trial”.
What is this genetically modified maize you want to feed the children of Zambia? We do not have the capacity to treat the cancers these American experiments will cause! Natural is best!
The food should be provided to the undernourished so that they are healthy and able to contribute positively to their communities this includes having enough energy to attend school. Those of you with negative opinions are doing it at the expense of others to survive.
Ok, this is new to me….. I thought there was only Yellow MAize…now thee is even Orange!!! Next we will have black maize…..lol.
The debate of GMOs will slowly come back.
Government cannot be adopting any solution. Show evidence that excessive dietary intake of Vit A will not lead into health risks such as hypervitaminosis A, carotenodermia. You cannot be turning everything into a vitamin A-dense foods; white spoon sugar is fortified with Vit A, now you are trying to coerce authorities into accepting that we need more vit A in nshima (maize)! And yet our consumers are not fully aware of the fact that there are several food types rich in beta-carotene. Zambia’s natural foods both wild and domesticated such as vegetables and fruits offer more potential health benefits. advocate for postharvest techniques to transform our foods into preserves with maintained nutritional quality. Actually our problem is pre-and-post-harvest losses across all range of crops.
Thanks for a fact based argument. It’s beyond ordinary people to understand what these vultures are trying to do targeting our kids.
Ba Mubanga wesu this for me is asolution to feed the undernourished and ensure their health. It does not mean that you can stop consuming all the refined foods available at your own peril. The solution is to improve livelihoods of those undernourished. From your post you are well learned and should know that Zambia ranks poorly on a global scale in terms of health and food security. If you have the interests of the undernourished you would be welcoming this call. The fact is that Zambia’s border towns lack in food security as they engage more in trade of goods than farming. If this food is channeled to them and they are encouraged to venture into farming, eventually the trend of foods consumed can be changed. For now this one good option. #Thinking of the poor
@Njala Mimba
If the West are not eating this GMO food, why would Africa benefit more? There is no evidence that says GMO food is safe. In fact we have seen the effect of GMO farming on the environment. It is suggested the limited numbers of bees in the West is because of GMO faming.
Why should we give up nature to be controlled by scientist food?
NO GMO’s please. And stop using our children as test kit. No one in the West eats this stuff. Ridiculous. What is wrong with natural sources that are us modified.
This is just targeting the poor to help western scientist feed off us. Stop targeting Zambia for every foolish nonsense. If the gov’t just concentrated on collecting revenue, we can afford better natural food. No to Monsanto and No to Zambian test tube kids.
@patriotic abroad. I agree, we should not give up nature. The approach of nature appear more complicated but offers a diverse of sustainable solutions. Among the alternative uses, fortification is widely promoted as the most effective solution to address micro-nutrient deficiency because its a straight simple method but the due consequences on health are overlooked! In my thinking I am trying to advance that nature provides an almost infinite variety of food species which are disregarded and pushed into oblivion and extinction by prevailing methods of food production systems, one such being advocated for by my colleague @Njala Minba.