Biofortification: A review of ex-ante models

Biofortification is the development of food crops with higher micronutrient levels. Considerable progress has been made for biofortification over the last two decades (Bouis and Saltzman, 2017). Biofortification typically involves using conventional breeding to select for nutrition-related traits that will increase the crop's micronutrient content (Nestel et al., 2006). However, biofortification also includes transgenic methods, in which genes are transferred from one species to another to increase micronutrient content (Blancquaert et al., 2017). The development of Golden Rice containing provitamin A (pVA) is an example (Ye et al., 2000). Finally, agronomic biofortification can also be achieved through foliar and soil application of micronutrient-containing fertilizers that result in increased nutrient uptake by the plant (Cakmak and Kutman, 2017, White and Broadley, 2009).