ICRISAT and HarvestPlus signed an agreement for scientific and technical collaboration between the two global organizations. Mr Arun Baral, CEO, HarvestPlus, and Dr Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT, signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which is made and entered into by IFPRI on behalf of its HarvestPlus Program. On the occasion, Dr Hughes said, After 17 years of fruitful collaboration on biofortification research, we have now decided to elevate this partnership. ICRISAT and HarvestPlus will work together more closely, making available micronutrient-rich varieties, high-quality seed and related technologies to the farming communities and consumers. This will contribute to eliminating micronutrient malnutrition in the drylands.

1. Newsletter
Happenings
In-house version 9 July 2021, No.1914
photo: ICRISAT
ICRISAT and HarvestPlus to collaborate on
mainstreaming nutrition research and upscaling of
biofortified cultivars
File photo of a pearl millet farmer.
ICRISAT and HarvestPlus signed an agreement for
scientific and technical collaboration between the two
global organizations. Mr Arun Baral, CEO, HarvestPlus,
and Dr Jacqueline d'Arros Hughes, Director General,
ICRISAT, signed the Memorandum of Understanding,
which is made and entered into by IFPRI on behalf of its
HarvestPlus Program. On the occasion, Dr Hughes said,
“After 17 years of fruitful collaboration on biofortification
research, we have now decided to elevate this
partnership. ICRISAT and HarvestPlus will work together
more closely, making available micronutrient-rich
varieties, high-quality seed and related technologies to
the farming communities and consumers. This will
contribute to eliminating micronutrient malnutrition in
the drylands.”
Mr Baral asserted, “Mainstreaming nutritional traits in
crop development is a key element in scaling up
biofortification globally to help end the epidemic of
hidden hunger. HarvestPlus looks forward to partnering
and working hand in hand with ICRISAT to ensure that
the benefits of nutrient-rich staple crops extend to
farming families in dryland communities.”
Dr Wolfgang H Pfeiffer, Director Research and
Development, HarvestPlus, expressed happiness that
the partnership will further boost variety development
for African growing zones, particularly the Sahel, and
accelerate a shift to high-iron pearl millet hybrids.’
Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General – Research,
ICRISAT, said, "Under this agreement, HarvestPlus and
ICRISAT will join forces to advance mainstreaming and
scaling up of nutritional traits by ensuring adequate
resources for this critical work to help smallholder
farmers access to essential nutrition.”
ICRISAT and HarvestPlus have broadly agreed to carry
out the following collaborative activities:
▪
▪ Promote nutrition research in crop development on
ICRISAT mandate crops in Asia and Africa
▪
▪ Jointly advocate biofortification at the international
level
▪
▪ Mobilize resources for mainstreaming and targeted
breeding of nutritional traits in crop breeding
programs