The year 2020 brought enormous challenges affecting societies, economies, and people everywhere. For HarvestPlus, the top priority amid COVID-19 disruptions was to consistently innovate in order to minimize risks to food supply chains and to protect access to nutritious crops. HarvestPlus and partners adopted new practices to ensure that smallholder farming families can still access and plant biofortified seed, receive training and technical support, and stay connected to crop markets. We focused on to making sure that vulnerable rural communities continue to receive health, immunity, and livelihood benefits from nutrient-rich crops.
An effective response to COVID-19 across continents In Nigeria, HarvestPlus negotiated a 10 percent price discount with seed companies for Vitamin A maize seed and 20 percent discount for Vitamin A cassava stems. By linking agro-dealers in Niger, Kaduna, Ogun, Oyo, Enugu, and Imo States to seed companies that were offering the discount, farmers can access the seed at a much lower cost. This website story highlights our recent work in Nigeria.