Advancing iron-biofortified potatoes to combat anemia among vulnerable populations
LIMA, Peru — 17 June 2026 — The International Potato Center (CIP) proudly celebrates Dr. Gabriela Burgos, a leading nutrition scientist whose groundbreaking work on biofortified potatoes and sweetpotatoes has earned her recognition as one of the World Food Prize Foundation’s Top Agri-food Pioneers (TAP). The TAP program recognizes exceptional innovators who are driving bold solutions to global food security and nutrition challenges and is part of the World Food Prize Foundation’s growing network of agricultural changemakers.
For more than two decades, Dr. Burgos has championed the use of staple crops as vehicles for improved nutrition, helping transform potatoes and sweetpotatoes into powerful tools in the fight against hidden hunger. Her work has focused on increasing the concentration and bioavailability of essential micronutrients, including iron, zinc and provitamin A, in crops consumed by millions of people every day.
Among her most significant achievements is her leadership in developing and validating iron-biofortified potatoes to address anemia, a condition that disproportionately affects women and children throughout the Andes and other parts of the developing world. Dr. Burgos led the first human studies demonstrating that iron from potatoes is highly bioavailable and that iron-biofortified potatoes provide substantially more absorbable iron than conventional varieties. The research showed that these potatoes can provide up to half of the daily iron requirements of women living in high-potato-consumption regions.
Today, Dr. Burgos is leading efforts to disseminate iron-biofortified potato varieties across the central Peruvian highlands, where anemia remains a major public health concern. The innovation is remarkable in its simplicity: women and children do not need to adopt new foods or change long-established dietary habits. They simply need to eat the potatoes that are already central to their daily diets. By delivering higher levels of iron through a culturally accepted staple crop, these varieties offer a practical and scalable pathway to reducing anemia in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Dr. Burgos joins an international cohort of innovators recognized by the World Food Prize Foundation for advancing food security through science, technology, policy and entrepreneurship. Her selection reflects both her scientific achievements and her vision for a future in which staple crops can serve as sustainable delivery systems for essential nutrients.
As iron-biofortified potatoes move from research fields to farmers’ fields and family tables, Dr. Burgos’s work has the potential to improve the health and well-being of thousands of families across the Andes and, ultimately, millions of people in potato-growing regions around the world.
About the International Potato Center (CIP)
The International Potato Center (CIP) is a research-for-development organization dedicated to improving food security, nutrition and livelihoods through science, innovation and partnerships focused on potato, sweetpotato and Andean roots and tubers.