QUT and India's DBT-BIRAC sign world-first agreement to develop iron-rich bananas
Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia, and the Indian government's Department of Biotechnology have entered into a $AUD2.8 million partnership to help stamp out iron-deficiency anaemia in India, a major cause of maternal death during childbirth.
The project will see new strains of iron-rich bananas developed and will be jointly led by QUT's Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities Director, Distinguished Professor James Dale and Dr Rakesh Tuli of the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute.
Other partners include the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, National Research Centre for Bananas, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Indian Institute of Horticulture Research.
"Bananas are a staple food in India, particularly in the south of the country," Professor Dale said.
"Once we develop the new banana varieties they should be widely available and provide a rich and easily accessible source of iron.
"This is a significant step forward in addressing a major health issue in India's nutrition deficient population," said Dr Renu Swarup, Managing Director, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India's Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) which has a mandate for the technology transfer.
The agreement was signed in India on behalf of QUT and India's Department of Biotechnology.
BIRAC is providing $AUD1.4 million towards the QUT component of the project and $AUD 1.4 million (INR 80 Million) towards the cost of the Indian component.
Professor Dale said QUT felt privileged to enter into the agreement with India as this was the first technology transfer agreement the Indian government had entered into with an international organisation in the field of botechnology.
He said the project would build upon ongoing research QUT was undertaking to increase the nutritional content of bananas in Uganda under the auspices of the Gates Foundatioin.
He said the Indian banana project would involve an initial four-year development phase and it would then take another four to five years to prepare the bananas for release to Indian farmers.
"Iron deficiency causes particular problems for pregnant women and is one of the major causes of maternal death during child birth.
"Iron-deficiency is a problem for all developing countries associated with low nutrition, not just vegetarianism," Professor Dale said.
Fast Facts on bananas
- Most commercial bananas originate from one single plant in south East Asia
- They were almost wiped out in the mid 20th century by certain strains of fungus
- There are 1000 different types of banana plants in the world today but most are unpalatable
- Globally, more than 100 billion Cavendish bananas are consumed each year, making bananas the 4th largest agricultural product after wheat, rice and corn
- Ugandans have the highest per person consumption of bananas eating 500 pounds of the fruit each year
- Bananas are one of the healthiest natural food sources in the world containing very little fatand are high in vitamin B6, fibre and potassium.
Provided by Queensland University of Technology