58 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2018 WORLD STATUS that was only made possible by the trail blazed by the research of several CIMMYT scientists long ago. Together, we have worked to turn maize, a staple food in the region, into a tool capable of reducing zinc deficiency in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and several regions of Colombia.” The scientific work con- ducted at CIMMYT, HarvestPlus and CIAT reaches the hands of farmers through local seed com- panies such as Maxi Semillas S.A.S., a partner of CIMMYT Colombia for the past 40 years that will be commercializing the new variety.(CIMMYT) JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA IN RESPONSE TO a report from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announcing that a hand- ful of wheat plants that contain an unapproved genetically modi- fied event were found next to an isolated access road in southern Alberta last year, both Japan and South Korea have halted ship- ments of Canadian wheat. Japan is a top importer of Canadian wheat. COLOMBIA THE FIRST ZINC-ENRICHED maize variety devel- oped for South America has been released in Colombia in an effort to combat malnutrition in the country. Developed using traditional breeding tech- niques, this biofortified maize has naturally higher concentrations of zinc. It is estimated that in some regions of Colombia, up to 50 per cent of the population is zinc deficient. The new variety, known as BIO-MZN01, was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with support from HarvestPlus, the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). “The support that CIMMYT and CIAT have received from HarvestPlus has been fundamen- tal in allowing our researchers to develop crops with enhanced vitamin and mineral content,” says Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 6.6 per cent of the population of Latin America, or 42 million people, suffer from malnutrition. Biofortified crop varieties such as maize with enriched zinc content seek to reduce malnutri- tion by making micronutrients more bioavaila- ble. In Colombia, zinc deficiency affects around 22 per cent of the population. BIO-MZN01 contains 36 per cent more zinc on average than other maize varieties, meaning that arepas (a maize-based Colombian staple food) made of this new variety offers consum- ers five times more zinc than those made with traditional varieties. Additionally, BIO- MZN01 can yield up to 6 to 8 tons per hectare (t/ha), nearly double the national average in Colombia of 3.7 t/ha and is resistant to several maize dis- eases that are common in the region, including rust, turcicum leaf blight and gray leaf spot. It can be grown between 0 and 1,400 metres above sea level during both cropping seasons in the country. “This is incredible news for the food and nutritional secu- rity of all Colombians. It is also an excellent opportunity to share the positive results that can be achieved by team- work and partnerships such as the work we are doing with HarvestPlus, CIAT, seed com- panies such as Maxi Semillas S.A.S and of course, with farm- ers,” says Luis Narro, maize breeder at CIMMYT Colombia. For Marilia Nutti, the regional director for Latin America and the Carribean at HarvestPlus, the release of this new bioforti- fied variety is the result of “a joint effort we began in 2012, Japan and South Korea stop shipments of Canadian wheat after some GM wheat plants were found in Alberta, while the UK looks at boosting grower productivity.