Methodology for selecting areas for biofortified crop intervention.

OBJECTIVE: To identify geographical areas in Latin America and the Caribbean where biofortification of staple crops, such as beans, corn, rice, cassava, and sweet potatoes, might help reduce nutritional deficiencies in the Region. METHODS: A geographic information system (GIS) was produced with records on nutritional risks, crop production, food consumption, and demographic and socioeconomic data, for 11 countries in the Region. Four case studies were conducted (in Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico) using exploratory and descriptive analysis of thematic maps that were superimposed and compared to reveal overlapping and spatial patterns, thereby identifying areas suited to intervention. RESULTS: In Guatemala, the highest rates of nutritional risk, bean production, and population density overlapped in the northeast and southeast areas. In Mexico, spatial distribution of the highest risk levels for nutrition, poverty, and corn production were concentrated in the central and southern municipalities. In Bolivia, bean production tended to be in the eastern part of the country, and nutritional risk, in the west. In Colombia, both nutritional risk and cassava production showed wide geographic dispersion. CONCLUSIONS: For Guatemala, we propose iron biofortification of beans in the southern parts of the northeast and southeast; for Mexico, amino-acid biofortification of corn in the central and southern municipalities that produce it; for Bolivia, iron and zinc biofortification of beans in the bean-producing areas of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, and Tarija; and for Colombia, ß-carotene biofortification of cassava in the Cordoba and Cundinamarca departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]