Harvest Plus, in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) have developed and produced two iron rich millet varieties christened as Jirani and Chakti.
The Country Director, Harvest Plus Nigeria, Dr. Yusuf Dollah made the disclosure on Thursday in Kano at a news conference on the newly released biofortified iron pearl millet in Nigeria.
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He said the production of these iron-enriched pearl millet varieties, has become the first biofortified varieties of pearl millets to be released in Africa.
He noted that with the release of these millet varieties, Nigeria is placed to contribute its quota in line with the United Nations declaration of 2023 as the International Year of the Millets.
“Smallholder farmers can now have access to naturally nutritious, climate-smart varieties of iron pearl millet to help address their need to improve their productivity and household nutrition in the face of global shocks.
” Eating iron pearl millet is a proven way to resolve iron deficiency and enhance the cognitive abilities of adolescents, India has done it and we can also do it in Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, the iron pearl millet combines higher iron content with other enhanced and preferred farmer traits including higher yield, extra-early maturity and drought tolerance to provide more nutrition and food security to rural farming communities in arid and drought prone regions.
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He said Harvest Plus improves nutrition and public health by developing and promoting biofortified food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals.
Some farmers who spoke at the occasion called on farmers especially in the northern part of the country to plant the new millet variety in view of the fact that it’s drought resistant.
