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Building Nutritious Food Baskets: Project Inception Meeting in Arusha

The Building Nutritious Food Baskets: Scaling up Biofortified Crops for Nutrition Security” project is a three-year project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project seeks to reduce hidden hunger by catalysing sustainable investment for the utilization of biofortified crops (vitamin A cassava, vitamin A maize, vitamin A sweetpotato and iron rich beans) at scale. The project is implemented in Nigeria and Tanzania, to demonstrate how multiple biofortified crops can be scaled up together at country level using a “food basket” approach. The project is led by CIP and engages a range of partners, including; The International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), the International Potato Centre (CIP), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), HarvestPlus and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). The goal of the BNFB project is to help reduce hidden hunger by catalysing sustainable investment for the utilization of biofortified crops at scale. The projects seeks to specifically demonstrate how scaling up can be achieved through a concerted effort by a range of CGIAR centers and programs along with community, national, regional, and international stakeholders. These partners will work together on advocacy, policy development, nutrition education, and behaviour change communication for demand creation, capacity strengthening, and institutional learning to support the scaling up of multiple biofortified crops. The project has two specific objectives:

  1. Strengthen the enabling environment for increased investments in biofortified crops.
  2. Strengthen institutional and community capacities to produce and consume biofortified crops.