AgResults Selects Four Millers to Launch New Biofortified Provitamin A Maize Meal Product in Zambia

The Secretariat of the AgResults initiative is pleased to announce the selection of four Zambian millers to participate in Year 1 of the Zambia Biofortified Maize Pilot.

The AgResults Zambia Biofortified Maize Pilot is a five-year, results driven project designed to introduce and encourage the widespread production, sale and consumption of biofortified provitamin A (PVA) maize meal in the Zambia commercial markets. Maize biofortification is a low-cost method to combat vitamin A deficiency, which can cause blindness that triggers up to 250,000 child deaths annually in Africa. Research indicates that vitamin A deficiency rates in Zambia are as high as 31% in children and 21% in women in some provinces.

This pilot aims to incentivize millers to purchase biofortified provitamin A maize and to produce, market, and sell biofortified PVA maize meal, a new product in the Zambian market space. The pilot is expected to produce over 60,000 MT of biofortified PVA maize meal by the fourth year, and consumers of the product will receive an additional 124?g of vitamin A per day – 24% of their average requirement.

Millers responded to a Request for Applications (RFA) for Sales and Marketing Plans to Participate in Year 1 (February 2015 – May 2016) of the AgResults Zambia Biofortified Maize Pilot Project posted to the AgResults website on November 17, 2015. After review and an evaluation process by the AgResults Secretariat and ratification by the AgResults Steering Committee, four millers were selected to participate in Year 1 of the pilot.