Bioversity International's research approach
Bioversity International looks into variability of naturally occurring nutrients in foods to introduce more nutritious diets to developing regions, that are affordable, culturally acceptable, accessible and available the year round. Using a 'whole diet' approach and increasing diversity in diets can help to prevent micronutrient deficiencies – 2 billion people globally suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.
Bioversity International looks at how diversity within diets can help promote good nutrition and how using agricultural diversity can help prevent micronutrient deficiencies.
One approach can be using naturally-occurring vitamin-rich varieties of food to enhance the overall diet. By looking at the missing nutrients in a given population and the nutritional value of the staple foods that feature highly on the menu, to see if alternative varieties could be a better option.
One example of our work in this area, is using Vitamin A rich-varieties of bananas in Eastern Africa.
