By Fabiana F. De Moura, Mourad Moursi, Moira Donahue Angel, and Erick Boy

September 20, 2024

Populations across South, East, and Southeast Asia, where rice is the main staple food, have some of the highest estimated prevalences of inadequate zinc intake in the world. While rice provides ample energy and a base intake of many minerals and vitamins, it doesn't provide zinc at levels high enough for optimal health-restricting growth, immune function, and more.

This public health challenge prompted the development of biofortified zinc rice-varieties enriched with additional zinc-by HarvestPlus, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, alongside national agricultural research and extension systems.

The biofortified rice breeding program has made significant progress increasing the levels of zinc in varieties available to farmers: Zinc rice contains up to 28 milligrams of zinc per kilogram of rice (or 28 parts per million, ppm), nearly double the typical amount in common traditional rice varieties (16 ppm). Farmers in Bangladesh and Indonesia have been growing and eating zinc rice since 2014 and 2018, respectively.