Pioneer Hi-Bred, a biotechnology company, has partnered with Africa Harvest to form the Africa Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) Project, an initiative that works to improve the nutritional value of sorghum to help address widespread malnutrition.

Pioneer donated initial technologies valued at $4.8 million to help with the project and additional funding has been provided by a grant to Africa Harvest from the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, with a budget of $18.6 million over five years.

Dupont’s technology also allows for the cultivation of sorghum with higher levels of vitamins A and E, micronutrients such as iron and zinc, and essential amino acids such as lysine, while also improving digestibility.

If successful, in the long term, the project could help improve the health of 300 million people in Africa.