An international development organization, in response to a vitamin A deficiency among people in the impoverished nation of Tagus, has engineered a new breed of millet high in vitamin A. While seeds for this new type of millet cost more, farmers will be paid subsidies for farming the new variety of millet. Since millet is already a staple food in Tagus, people will readily adopt the new variety. To combat vitamin A deficiency, the government of Tagus should do everything it can to promote this new type of millet.Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
Time taken - 30 minutes
The government of Tagus should do everything to combat vitamin A deficiency in the nation but what is important here is to take required and necessary measures by keeping in mind the causes of such deficiency prevailing in this nation. The author recommended the promotion of new type of millet high in vitamin A for the Tagus, however, the author failed to substantiate its argument thus, making the recommendation controvert.
Firstly, the author claimed that a new breed of millet high in vitamin A has been engineered by the international organization in response to Vitamin A deficiency . However, the author failed to describe other effects of this breed, certain questions need to be answered before the use of this new breed. What is the amount of vitamin A in the new type of millet and what is the recommended dose for it? Is the amount in breed is way too much high than the normal level of vitamin A required by the body? What is the form of vitamin in the millet and what is the process of absorption and how much will get digested or excreted when taken in food? What are the possible side effects and what other nutrients being carried in it ? Is the same millet recommended for every person or that depends upon the deficiency level of the human body? These are some questions need to be answered before recommending the new type of millet in the population which makes the suggestion by the author questionable.
Secondly, since millet is already a staple food in Tagus, thus it could mean the population is already consuming much of millet which refutes the usage of new breed in the population. There might be another causes for this deficiency including the body type and other nutrients deficiency required to absorb the vitamin A. The author need to provide data that what are the factors has led to such deficiency? is this due to less consumption of vitamin A rich food? Is it because of the body reaction or allergy to Vitamin A in Tagus? Is it because of the low absorption by the human body due to some genetic mutation or environmental defect ? For these reasons, introducing the new type of millet would not help rather other measures like improving the absorption process by the body or checking on any mutational defect for the nation.
The author mentioned that the government of Tagus should do everything to promote this new type of millet, but the role of the government should be to everything to alleviate this deficiency from the nation. It is possible even if government promote this new type, it would not benefit the people or could also lead to other problems and also loss of economy if the type did not bring the required results. The author should refute the other possibilities for the deficiency , also the author should know if all the population is consuming the millet or not. It is possible that the people in Tagus are not generally consuming nutritious food thus, leading to deficiencies. It is also possible that the people are not getting access or are aware of the nutrition required by the body, thus, it would be unnecessary cost for promoting the new type of millet when people are not concerned or do not consume millet . For this , the government should create awareness about a healthy lifestyle and also try to persuade people for taking vitamin A rich food which can be anything like carrots. Thus, it is required to survey the population and farmers too if they produce the required amount of millet and are people having access to the food or not. Also which type of population is affected?
In a nutshell, I would say that it is possible that the new type of millet would eradicate the deficiency from the nation, but the author need to present more information and survey from the people regarding their lifestyle and awareness about the nutrition. This would help to substantiate this recommendation.
