Amid fears of considerable decline in the wheat production due to effects of climate change for the 2022-2023 season, biofortified crops, especially Zinc-enriched wheat, has the potential to help bring food security to Pakistan and overcome widespread and preventable zinc deficiency in the larger population, food and agriculture experts said on Saturday. Pakistan faces serious challenges of food insecurity and malnutrition, especially among women and children. The warming climate is a direct nutritional and economic threat to billions of smallholder farmers in Pakistan who rely on staple food crops for much of their diet and income. “Pakistan is leading the way globally when it comes to scaling zinc wheat production,” said Jenny Walton, Harvest Plus Head of Commercialization and Scaling, following a recent visit to Pakistan during which she inaugurated zinc wheat flour production at a chakki mill in Faisalabad.
“Zinc wheat has commercial benefit for all supply chain players and results in a nutritious product that consumers need and want,” she added. The owner of a chakki mill in Faisalabad, Mahboob Ahmed, echoed this sentiment, “At my mill there is a no difference in the price of the whole grain wheat flour made from zinc-enriched varieties compared to conventional wheat varieties. My income has increased as more people are coming to my shop to buy zinc wheat flour”. He added, “I am thankful to Harvest Plus for building my capacity to supply people of my area with zinc wheat flour, which is good for their health and supports their immunity against diseases”.
“There is need to keep the momentum going for the production of zinc wheat varieties so that micronutrient deficiencies of a sizeable population can be overcome,” he said. “Crops may lose 8-10 per cent of yield with rising temperatures,” said Munawar Hussain, an advisor to Harvest Plus in Pakistan. Wheat is consumed by 98 per cent of the population of Pakistan daily. Hussain suggests the country will have to adopt rust resistant and heat and drought tolerant varieties of wheat to meet the growing food demands of the country.
Specifically, Hussain recommends the cultivation of biofortified zinc wheat to address zinc deficiency among the people of Pakistan. “Research institutions in Pakistan have developed rust-resistant varieties of wheat that are also helpful in overcoming micronutrient deficiencies as they are zinc biofortified. There is a need to continue creating awareness among our wheat growers and farmers to switch to the biofortified zinc wheat varieties that better withstand the effects of climate change and provide better nutrition to our people,” said Hussain. The Government of Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination believe adoption of zinc wheat is imperative to public health.
“Providing added zinc to the population by growing indigenously developed zinc wheat varieties is an easy, cost-effective, and sustainable strategy to address zinc deficiency.”
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