PARB funds five-year project worth Rs 27.288 million: developing wheat variety having zinc, iron to improve nutrition

Punjab Agricultural Research Board (PARB) has funded a five year project worth Rs 27.288 million on 'Development of wheat with low phytate for increasing bioavailability of iron and zinc" by Forman Christian College, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) Faisalabad and Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI) Faisalabad.
Sources in the Board told Business Recorder here Tuesday that this project would focus on developing transgenic plants with lower phytate content resulting in increased iron and zinc bioavailability. Pakistan has an agrarian economy with agriculture sector contributing nearly 21 percent to the GDP of the country.
Our country is enriched with reasonable growth of agricultural productivity, but it does not meet the requisite of food security. Food security, as defined by the World Food Summit as " When all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life".
A world Bank publication estimates that deficiencies of iron, zinc and vitamin A, at the level of malnutrition that presently exist in South Asia, cause economic losses equal to 5% of GNP each year due to sickness, poor work performance, lost education and other factors, sources in the Board added.
The problem of micronutrient deficiency can be handled by three ways; fortification of food with critical minerals, using supplements such as phytate and by developing transgenic crops having low phytate, the sources maintained and said that the PARB funded project would focus on developing transgenic plants with lower phytate content resulting in increased iron and zinc bioavailability.
Wheat is the most widely grown food crop; in world crop production it ranks first and is the national staple food of many countries including Pakistan. Currently there are efforts to fortify wheat flour with different iron formulations. Similarly phytate enzyme is also being used in poultry feed. But all such interventions are not sustainable due to logistic and quality assurance problems.