India Developing Healthier Rice

Breeders Developing New Rice Varieties

I found this story online where India is developing new strains of high yield rice in an effort to feed their growing population, and in some cases stave off starvation.

Uptake of Micro Nutrients Is Key

In particular, they've observed that significant malnutrition can result from a lack of the micronutrients zinc and iron.  Both carry out important processes in the human body, and the typical rice being raised in India doesn't have much of either.

Cooperative Effort Underway

They are attempting to increase the uptake in the rice plant and thusly increase the bio-availability of these vital micro-nutrients when the final grain is consumed.

The project is being carried out by a cooperation between Indian Rice Institute, HarvestPlus, and UC Davis.

The Economic Backstory

I guess I understand the economic impetus behind wanting to do this, and in general i support it.  I suppose it's not economically realistic to expect that the peasants who are suffering the most would be able to access other plants that already naturally provide these nutrients in abundance.