Economics of enhanced micronutrient density in food staples
Economics of enhanced micronutrient density in food staples
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DOI：
10.1016/s0378-4290(98)00138-5
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发表时间：
1999-01-01
影响因子：
5.8
通讯作者：
Bouis, HE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bouis, HE
培育能更有效地从土壤中吸收微量营养素金属并能在种子中积累更多微量营养素的主食作物，这对人类营养和农业生产力都有好处，因此，对这一领域农业研究投资的效益/成本比的事先估计极高。这一发现来自于几个互补因素的汇合：发展中国家的微量营养素营养不良率很高，这对人类福利和经济生产力造成了代价。由于营养不良的穷人每天都要大量食用主食，因此提供丰富的主食（在生长过程中由植物本身强化）可以依靠现有的消费者行为。种植这些主食的土壤中有很大一部分"缺乏“这些微量营养素金属，这使得作物产量很低。一般来说，这些土壤实际上含有相对较高的微量元素金属总量。然而，由于与土壤成分结合，这些营养素对目前农民可用的主要作物品种的土壤可用性很差。农民采用和推广营养改良品种可以依靠利润激励，要么是因为微量矿物质的农艺优势，在农业研究站正在发布的最具生产力的品种中，对农业研究的小额投资可以广泛传播，有可能惠及数亿人和数百万公顷农田，育种进步的收益来自初始的固定成本，通常不涉及高额的经常性成本，因此，只要保持有效的国内农业研究基础设施，其可持续性往往很高。(C)1999 Elsevier Science B. V.保留所有权利。
The combining of benefits for human nutrition and agricultural productivity, resulting from breeding staple food crops which are more efficient in the micronutrient metal uptake from the soil, and which accumulate more micronutrients into their seeds, results in extremely high ex ante estimates of benefit/costs ratios for investments in agricultural research in this area. This finding derives from the confluence of several complementary factors:Rates of micronutrient malnutrition are high in developing countries, as are the consequent costs to human welfare and economic productivity.Because staple foods are eaten in large quantities every day by the malnourished poor, delivery of enriched staple feuds (fortified by the plants themselves during growth) can rely on existing consumer behavior.A significant percentage of the soils in which these staple foods are grown are 'deficient' in these micronutrient metals, which has kept crop yields low. In general, these soils in fact contain relatively high total amounts of micronutrient metals. However, because of binding to soil constituents, these nutrients have poor soil availability to staple crop varieties that are currently available to farmers.Adoption and spread of nutritionally-improved varieties by farmers can rely on profit incentives, either because of agronomic advantages on trace mineral-deficient soils or incorporation of nutritional improvements in the most productive varieties being released by agricultural research stations.Benefits to relatively small investments in agricultural research may be disseminated widely, potentially accruing to hundreds of millions of people and millions of hectares of cropland.Benefits from breeding advances, derived from initial, fixed costs, typically do not involve high recurring costs, and thus tend to be highly sustainable as long as an effective domestic agricultural research infrastructure is maintained. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.