A spatial perspective to introducing biofortified staple food crops in Colombia
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Micronutrient malnutrition affects 2 billion people worldwide and biofortification—the process
of breeding and delivering staple food crops with higher micronutrient content— could prove to
be a cost-effective strategy for its alleviation. There is, however, a dearth of information on
where and in which crop-micronutrient combinations to invest for this strategy to be most
effective and yield the highest impact. To fill in this gap, a global biofortification index (BPI)
was developed (Asare-Marfo et al., 2013). It is based on three sub-indexes, namely production,
consumption, and micronutrient deficiency, all developed with subnational-level representative
data. The Global BPI, however, is not granular enough to suggest within country investment
opportunities for biofortification. In this paper we develop a methodology for a subnational-level
BPI, using Colombia as a case study. In order to guide strategies for geographic targeting and
intervention within country, we set statistical conditions for each sub-index and classify
geographic targeted areas as areas of: (1) impact and intervention, (2) impact, or (3) intervention.
To further identify geographic areas for intervention, a spatial interaction index derived from an
economic gravity model is used. This spatial interaction index helps to identify and link foodsurplus
and food-deficit areas. Our empirical results show that crops biofortified with zinc,
namely white maize and rice, should be introduced in the North Coast of Colombia; crops
biofortified with vitamin A, namely yellow maize and cassava, should be introduced primarily in
the Atlantic and Amazon regions of the country. Introduction of iron-biofortified beans in the
Andean region, especially Tolima and Antioquia, could have the greatest impact. Finally, we
also estimate area- or population-weighted subnational BPIs, which, depending on the objective, takes into account the intensity of crop production as well as the proportion of people at risk of micronutrient deficiency.