The Hindu Business Line : `Golden rice can tackle malnutrition'

POLITICAL will, funding and information flow will dictate the success or otherwise of development of `golden rice' the nutrient enriched rice, that can tackle malnutrition among the poor, according to Dr Peter Beyer, Professor, University of Freiburg, Center for Applied Biosciences, Germany.

Dr Beyer, who was part of the team that developed golden rice, a rice variety enriched with a precursor of Vitamin A, said that this was a pioneering effort in nutrient fortified staple crop. But this was a proof-of-concept demonstration that has highlighted the opportunity to bio-fortify crop plants to enable nutritional improvements in plant tissue. But for the poor to benefit, the challenge is to make a golden rice product in the public sector.

To develop a commercial product, capacity building and the ability to deal with intellectual property rights issues and regulatory constraints was essential, he said.

Staple diets like rice are poor in micronutrients like iron, zinc, folate, and vitamins. Bio-fortification (nutrient enrichment) through the process of nutritional genomics will enable development of nutrient rich staple crops. The nutrient issue had largely been ignored, he said.

Dr Beyer was addressing the international workshop here on Bio-safety of Transgenic Rice organised by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi.

Later, participating in the discussion, Dr Beyer, said golden rice could not be expected to be a panacea for vitamin deficiency. But it could be developed as a cost effective and sustained delivery system for micronutrients, and supplement conventional interventions to tackle micronutrients problem.

Prof. C. Kameswara Rao, former Head of Botany Department, Bangalore University, said golden rice appeared to be a cost-effective and viable source of beta-carotene, the precursor of Vitamin A. Though there were a number of food source that were rich in beta-carotene, these were either expensive or the bioavailability (available in a form that could be absorbed within the human body) was low.

Asian countries were largely dependent on rice as a staple diet. Vitamin-enriched rice was a cost-effective option. Further, safety issues were not a major concern as the scientists had only extended the capacity of the plant to produce beta-carotene in the endosperm, the edible portion of the rice particle.

India should exploit the opportunity because it was getting the technology free of cost along with a few other developing countries.

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