New Telegraph

Vitamin deficiencies: Nigeria loses over $1.5bn in GDP – Scientists

Agricultural scientists have said Nigeria loses $1.5 billion to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, adding that cassava improvement project was a sure way of stopping the colossal loss.
One of the scientists, Dr. Ihuoma Okwuonu, a Plant Biotechnologist from the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, disclosed this during a virtual press briefing Wednesday.
Okwuonu stated that the conventional cassava which farmers are used to in this part of the world, lack the required vitamins and other necessary minerals required for both children and adult’s nutritional needs.
The scientist explained that cassava improvement through genome editing was a project which Nigerian and other African countries must invest in.
According to her, about 500 million people in Africa rely on cassava for their daily food needs, and it is provides economic security.
She added that science has also proven that genome edited cassava is tolerant to drought and poor soils resilient to climate change.

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