By Alex Abutu
Food and nutritional security are among the foremost challenges facing most African States and this is having great impact on life expectancy on the continent.
On individual basis, countries have been adopting policies and programmes targeted at addressing and scaling up food and nutritional security but because the approaches are not inclusive or holistic, not enough has been achieved.
Recent breakthrough in the release and planting of the Golden Rice may be one of the options left for African leaders to embrace in addressing acute Vitamin A deficiency, as the consumption of this new rice variety offers a potent and cost-effective strategy to combat Vitamin A Deficiency (AVD).
Golden rice is a variety of rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A, in the edible parts of the rice. It is intended to produce a fortified food to be grown and consumed in areas with a shortage of dietary Vitamin A.
Vitamin A deficiency causes xerophthalmia, a range of eye conditions from night blindness to more severe clinical outcomes such as keratomalacia and corneal scars, and permanent blindness. It also increases risk of mortality from measles and diarrhoea in children.
The WHO noted that Vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem in more than half of all countries, especially those in Africa and South-East Asia. The most severe effects of this deficiency are seen in young children and pregnant women in low-income countries.
Although golden rice has met significant opposition from environmental and anti-globalisation activists, more than 100 Nobel laureates in 2016 encouraged its use as it can produce up to 23 times as much beta-carotene.
But this innovation has been cast aside owing to fear or false accusations, resulting in numerous lives needlessly lost. With the recent exception of the Philippines, governments have not approved the cultivation of GR but Africa may have to think twice.
In high-income nations where populations have access to a diversity of foods, VAD is rare. In many low-income nations, however, populations have limited access to foods rich in Vitamin A or beta-carotene, a Vitamin A precursor; hence, VAD rates can be dangerously high in children.
There have been recent improvements, however, children in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia continue to disproportionately experience VAD and its associated risks: infectious and diarrheal diseases, irreversible blindness and other sensory losses, and premature death.
A recent study has estimated that substituting GR for conventional rice could provide 89% to 113% and 57% to 99% of the recommended vitamin A requirement for preschool children in Bangladesh and the Philippines, respectively (10). Even if there were no other sources of vitamin A in the diets, this boost in dietary beta-carotene could do much to prevent diseases associated with VAD.
Those who oppose transgenic or genetically modified organisms raised concerns that led policymakers to delay the approval of the technologies for nearly a decade but it is important to note that transgenic crops are subject to many required regulatory tests before approval, including animal feeding and studies for toxicity and allergenicity making it food and feed safe.
Yet opponents of these crops have continued to amplify suspicion on the long-term health effects of genetically engineered crops (17). Protection against such risks can be achieved through monitoring of the performance and the impacts of technologies and intervening when setbacks occur. However, the food safety assessments for transgenic crops in many countries are more demanding than for conventionally bred varieties. In fact, often less is known about the properties of plants developed by conventional mutagenesis than those developed by transgenic methods.
The arguments used by organisations to delay adoption of GR often resemble the arguments of anti-vaccination groups, including those protesting vaccines to protect against COVID-19. Some of the opponents of GR and agricultural biotechnology more generally see the introduction of GR as forcing the consumption of GMOs on the population. However, for the case of GR, consumers have the option of easily avoiding consumption because GR is very easily identifiable by its color.
Dr Kayode Sanni, Rice expert with AATF noted that Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) is among the common micronutrient deficiency which is a global problem of public health significance in many developing countries.
“It affects over 33 percent of preschool-age children, estimated at over127 million globally, of which more than one third is in Africa. VAD is known to weaken the immune system, thus increasing the risk of disease and early death in children less than 5 years of age; and has also over the years resulted in preventable child blindness and mortality in some cases,” he added.
According to WHO, an estimated 250,000–500,000 children who are vitamin A-deficient become blind every year, and half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight.
Sanni said that: “The solution for correcting vitamin A deficiency lies in improving the child’s diet – through increased consumption of vitamin A-rich foods, naturally rich or bio fortified foods. Food fortification is a cost-effective intervention that aims to increase the content of specific nutrients in a widely consumed food to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply. Since rice has become a major staple food and an increasing source of calories in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where it is produced and consumed in about 40 countries. Thus, the Golden Rice which is developed to provides a new way of delivering vitamin A could be a sustainable way for reducing VAD in Africa. Golden Rice can effectively control vitamin A deficiency.”
A recent study has estimated that substituting Golden Rice for conventional rice could provide 89-113% and 57-99% of the recommended Vitamin A requirement for preschool children in Bangladesh and the Philippines, respectively. Its introduction and adoption would also significantly reduced VAD in Africa.