HarvestPlus

This grant was awarded in recognition of 100&Change semifinalist status.

More than two billion people globally–nearly one person in three–have daily diets that lack sufficient vitamins and minerals essential to health. Known as “hidden hunger,” these deficiencies lead to blindness, stunting, cognitive impairment, disease, and death. HarvestPlus addresses these deficiencies by enriching staple crops such as sweet potatoes, beans, maize, and cassava with vitamin A, iron, and zinc via conventional plant breeding techniques. HarvestPlus delivers improved seeds and support to farmers via on-the-ground networks and partnerships to provide a sustainable approach to fighting malnutrition as well as improved economic opportunities for farmers. With this award, HarvestPlus will scale the introduction and dissemination of new plant varieties in 17 priority countries in Africa, with plans to reach 100 million people in Africa by 2022, and one billion people globally by 2030.