CGIAR and HarvestPlus support national policy change to embed nutrition in every seed

For over two decades, biofortification has helped make staple crops more nutritious for more than 350 million people. But for these gains to last and reach everyone, nutrition must become a standard feature of every new crop variety released.

That's exactly what is now happening in countries like India and Nigeria, where governments are introducing minimum variety release standards for micronutrient content as a benchmark for new crops. This is a turning point for nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and behind it stands a partnership between CGIAR and HarvestPlus, which is providing the data, tools, and technical support needed to make policy ambitions a reality.

Step one: understanding national needs

Everything started with listening. Through a series of national workshops, CGIAR and HarvestPlus brought together public and private research institutions, seed regulators, and policymakers to assess gaps and opportunities in national crop variety release and seed systems.

For example, in India, researchers analyzed over 100,000 crop samples to establish the nutritional baselines of local varieties and identify genetic variation that could inform future breeding efforts to combat malnutrition. Similar work is underway in Nigeria and other parts of Africa and Asia, where teams have been collaborating with the government for over two years to develop a national policy outlining minimum zinc and iron levels for key crops such as pearl millet, maize, rice, and wheat.

As Arun Baral, Chief Executive Officer of HarvestPlus, explained, "HarvestPlus and CGIAR are making sure nutrition targets align with real production systems and market demand, so they create a real impact on people's lives."

Step two, from data to policy: setting the minimum nutrient levels

Setting nutritional standards for seed release isn't a simple task; it requires strong evidence and consensus among research institutions, seed companies, and government agencies.

"In India, rice varieties were found to contain around 16 parts per million (ppm) of zinc, roughly equal to the global baseline, based on a two-year study by the All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice," explained Dr. R. M. Sundaram, Director of ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research(ICAR-IIRR). "Using the project's new data from network trials and dietary assessments, experts have now agreed to raise the benchmark to 20 ppm, ensuring rice can supply about 25% of a person's daily zinc requirement."

Once these minimum thresholds are agreed upon, they are submitted to a national forum where public and private sector representatives discuss and endorse them.

Once these minimum thresholds are agreed upon by ICAR, they are submitted to a national forum, the Annual Rice Group Meetings of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice, where public and private sector representatives review and endorse them.

"From that point onward, no new rice variety can be officially released in the country unless it meets or exceeds the agreed micronutrient level," Dr. R. M. Sundaram added.

"Mainstreaming nutrition in crop breeding can coexist with farmers' preferred traits. Pearl millet and maize in India and Nigeria exemplify this success", explained Mahalingam Govindaraj, HarvestPlus. "This step forward creates healthy competition among breeders. Even if a variety is extremely productive, if it does not meet the minimum nutritional standard, it can no longer be approved, which pushes public and private programs to improve their level of performance for both nutrition and yields", he added.

NARES participants gain hands-on XRF training during the HarvestPlus-CGIAR shared services workshop to strengthen crop nutrition analysis capacity.

Step three: building shared services and technical capacity

To enable these policies, countries need access to reliable and affordable testing services that can verify micronutrient content. Many CGIAR Centers and national programs use their own laboratories for X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, a key tool for measuring nutrient levels, but costs vary widely.

CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow, through its Breeding ResourcesArea of Work, and HarvestPlus are developing a shared services model that provides consistent, high-quality analysis across countries. Where public facilities cannot yet offer the service, HarvestPlus and Breeding Resources fill the gap, ensuring that research groups can meet the national standards. Recently, both teams launched XRF services for CGIAR and partner breedersto help facilitate nutrition breeding efforts, and accelerate the release and scaling of biofortified varieties while keeping costs low and data consistent", explained Eng Hwa, Breeding Resources Lead.

Step four: mainstreaming biofortification

Biofortification is becoming the new normal as food needs to be nutritious. By establishing national standards and benefiting from shared testing systems, countries are mainstreaming nutrition into breeding pipelines much faster.

CGIAR provides the original breeding lines enriched with micronutrients and the associated nutritional data, while national agricultural research systems (NARES) integrate these lines into their local breeding programs. This allows them to focus on additional farmer-preferred traits, such as yield, pest resistance, or grain quality, without having to re-engineer nutritional improvements.

Importantly, these biofortified varieties are not priced higher than conventional ones. Governments procure them at the same price, ensuring that healthier food remains affordable and accessible for all. As these policies take effect, the aim is that within a decade, every new variety released will meet at least the minimum nutritional standard, gradually rising toward nutrition targets.

Step five: accelerating change through policy and partnerships

Strong policy frameworks are critical for this transformation. As countries adopt minimum nutrition standards for seed release, they send a powerful signal to both the public and private sectors that nutrition matters.

HarvestPlus and CGIAR's joint work also helps level the playing field: private sector breeders can now access accurate and trusted data from shared services of CGIAR and HarvestPlus, while public institutions can confidently participate in national testing systems.

This kind of policy alignment and infrastructure investment doesn't just improve the quality of new varieties; it also accelerates their delivery to the last-mile beneficiaries. By ensuring that all eco system players operate under the same rules and quality standards, countries can release new, more nutritious varieties faster and at scale.

Conclusion: nutrition in every seed

Through HarvestPlus Solutions, HarvestPlus' new scaling arm, HarvestPlus is scaling its research and commercial portfolio to help governments and private partners take these innovations to market and create impact at scale. This ensures that the technologies developed through CGIAR and NARES research reach the food companies, processors, and farmers who can make nutrition improvement a national reality.

As these partnerships deepen, India and Nigeria are paving the way for others to follow. Together, they are showing how science, policy, and shared services can come together to make every seed a source of better nutrition, and every harvest a step toward healthier lives.

Resources:

• News story: Mainstreaming nutrition in CGIAR breeding: X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) services ready to scale

• Event: Introducing XRF services to CGIAR and partner breeders

• Publication: Satyavathi CT, Ambawat S, Khandelwal V, Govindaraj M, Neeraja CN (2021) Micronutrient Rich Pearl Millet for Nutritionally Secure India.ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl Millet, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. 18 pp.

***

Main image: Woman in a rice field in India. Credit: IRRI. Written by Julie Puech. This work contributes to CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow Science Program, through its Breeding Resources Area of Work.