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Vitamin A
It's shaped like sweet potato but its pulp is the color of carrots: intense orange, indicating a huge concentration of beta-carotene, one of the essential components of vitamin A, which is fundamental for eyesight. More than half a million children worldwide are blind due to vitamin A deficiency; the lack of this vitamin increases infant mortality by 23%. In the 1990s CIP researchers crossed various orange potatoes in order to produce one with concentrated beta-carotene that would fit the agricultural and culinary habits of the countries it was going to be introduced to.
Thanks to the six million dollar donation by the Gates Foundation (established by Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft), Harvest Plus has been distributing and promoting this bio-fortified potato in Eastern Sub-Saharan areas of Africa. In Uganda and Mozambique the yellow potato has been introduced into the daily menu, as a substitute for the traditionally grown white potato. Harvest Plus www.harvestplus.org is a part of the CGIAR program www.cgiar.org, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, a group of international institutions, national research centers and private foundations that promotes agricultural development as an instrument for reducing poverty and advancing public health.
(16/06/2006)
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