Food Security

Amanda Stiles of Ripple Foods, PBC, in the U.S. will produce a low-cost protein isolate upcycled from locally-sourced agricultural by-products that can be used as a nutritious food additive or standalone high-protein broth. Protein malnutrition is a major health concern in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. However, protein is expensive to produce and often has a bad taste. They have developed an automated approach to identify low-cost, efficient methods to isolate plant proteins from agricultural by-products in the U.S.

Tsegaye Nega of Carleton College in the U.S. will develop methods to produce and distribute affordable nutritional food supplements made from excess, dried spent grains from the brewery process. Beer production has grown recently in Ethiopia, and a by-product, brewer's spent grain, is rich in fiber and protein and can be easily added to bread to boost its nutritional content.

Gloraia Pena of Cooperativa Multiactiva De Madres Del Valle Coomac in Colombia will implement a hybrid value chain business model to leverage collective purchasing power in a community of low-income families in Colombia to reduce the price of nutritious local foods. Current food prices are relatively high for low-income families because they buy in small volumes. They will combine collective purchasing power with a hybrid value chain model, which incorporates the needs and roles of the public and private sectors, to increase access to nutritional foods.

Joachim Loo of Nanyang Technical University in Singapore will develop techniques to encapsulate micronutrients such as iron for food fortification using okara, which is a nutritionally-rich pulp that is made as a wasted by-product during the production of soybean products. Micronutrient malnutrition affects two billion people globally. Providing micronutrients in the diet is difficult because they are unstable by themselves, and so need some form of protection, for example by encapsulating them in a stable, digestible material.

Lorraine Weatherspoon of Michigan State University in the U.S. will develop a blended instant bean sauce in an edible pouch that provides a culturally-acceptable iron and folic acid supplement for low-income pregnant women in Uganda. Iron and folic acid are particularly important during pregnancy as they reduce the risk of low birth weight and neural tube defects amongst many other morbidities and mortalities also for the mothers. Supplements provided as tablets are available, but have not been widely accepted.

Matthew Edmundson of Violet Health in the U.S. will develop iron-rich biscuits and tailor marketing campaigns to combat iron deficiency in adolescent girls in India. Iron deficiency is a global health concern and is particularly dangerous during pregnancy when it can increase the risk of maternal death and health problems for the infant. Nearly half of all adolescent girls in India are iron-deficient, and although iron tablets are available they are not taken properly, partly due to their bad taste and a cultural aversion to tablets.

Sailendra Appanah of EnerGaia Bangladesh Ltd in Bangladesh will teach low-income women in rural Bangladesh to farm Spirulina, which is an edible protein- and nutrient-rich microalgae, to provide better nutrition and an income for them and their families. They have developed a low-cost Spirulina production system comprising closed tanks with filtered air and water inputs, and a business model that provides the farmers with a lease-to-own financing solution and guaranteed buyers of excess product.

The project study proposes the development of nutrient rich genotypes in rice possessing the key nutraceuticals and therapeutic clues through which required nutrients such as iron and zinc for pregnant women and infants of rural households will be supplemented sustainably. Any improved line of rice will be compared with the traditional parents and other popularly eaten white rice varieties for its nutritional content and therapeutic values. The improved lines of rice having nutritive, anti-diabetic and therapeutic characters may be registered.

The project intends to promote the adoption of an innovative model of farming - the Integrated Farming System (IFS) - in the Chidambaram region. It aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of this model of farming in improving agricultural productivity and create avenues for empowerment of women as well as augment household diet diversity and improve nutritional standards of 150 poor women farmers.