Rice Fortification Factsheet July 2015 FINAL.PDF

Scaling up rice fortification

Overview Through rice fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, the initiative Scaling up rice fortification

aims to reduce micronutrient deficiencies in high-risk groups with a strong focus on women and children. With funding from the Netherlands and support from global science company Royal DSM, the joint initiative between WFP and the Government of Bangladesh runs from 2013 to 2017 and is on track to reach its target of 500,000 beneficiaries by 2016.

Activities By providing fortified rice, WFP supports the

Government to overcome the country’s intergenerational cycle of undernutrition. This joint initiative has now been scaled up in four ways:

By distributing fortified rice to ultra-poor

women and their families under the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme in 12 subdistricts and to disaster-affected families through a relief programme in one district (covering 141,000 people in 2014);

By supporting programmes that enhance

resilience to disasters and the effects of climate change (covering almost 37,000

people in 2014);

Through cooked school meals to 25,000

schoolchildren; and

In cooperation with garment factory

owners to encourage them to provide fortified

rice to their employees, most of whom are young women.

Key achievements The Government and WFP distributed 4,600 tons of

fortified rice to more than 140,000 people reached by safety net programmes up to December 2014.

Garment manufacturer Dulal Brothers Limited (DBL) made good progress toward the distribution of fortified rice to their workers by importing rice premix kernels, and construction company Abdul Monem Limited (AML) initiated local production, a key step to make fortified rice a commercially viable product.

To support commercial sale of rice premix kernels and fortified rice, WFP facilitated the process for the

Government’s approval of a Standard, a milestone in the development of a market.

Way forward The Government will finance further scale up of fortification in the VGD programme.

DBL prepares to distribute fortified rice on a small scale and AML is set to begin commercial sale of rice premix kernels and fortified rice.

WFP to increase national capacity to reach the poor with fortified rice and create market demand.

Government capacities will be enhanced through technical support.

Rice Fortification

World Food Programme Bangladesh

AT A GLANCE

Beneficiary: 500,000 people, mostly women and children

Duration: 2013-2017

Government partners: Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief

Donor: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Photo credits: WFP/Ranak Martin

World Food Programme Bangladesh

About rice and nutrition

Why rice fortification? The overall objective of rice fortification is to fight micronutrient deficiencies among the poorest.

The nutritional challenge Low dietary diversity and scanty intake of nutrient-rich foods remain a challenge in

Bangladesh, despite a significant decline in poverty in recent years, and deficiencies in vitamin A, iron, zinc, iodine, vitamin B12 and folate are widespread.

These micronutrient deficiencies, especially among adolescent girls and women, are a key factor in the persistence of undernutrition as a woman’s health significantly affects the health

and development of her children.

Undernutrition slows economic growth and perpetuates poverty. Productivity losses to

individuals through underdeveloped physique and cognitive functions as well as increased health costs are estimated at roughly 10 percent of lifetime earnings.

Beyond ’plain’ rice Rice is the main staple food in Bangladesh and

the poorest often eat only rice with vegetables and spices. Regular milled rice although high in carbohydrates is low in micronutrients.

With rice being the main commodity distributed through the Government’s food-based social safety nets reaching the ultra-poor, the introduction of fortified rice can address the

widespread nutritional deficiencies and help ensure an active and healthy life.

Fortified rice kernels look, taste and cook like ordinary rice but are enhanced with essential micronutrients. They are combined with regular rice at a ratio of 1 to 100.

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PARTNERS AND DONORS

Ministry of Women and Children Affairs dis-

tributes fortified rice through VGD

Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief can distribute fortified rice

DSM supplies fortified kernels and provided fi-nancial support to an acceptability study

BRAC conducted the acceptability study

Abdul Monem Limited (AML) produces premix kernels locally and prepares for commercial sale

Dulal Brothers Limited (DBL) distributes forti-fied rice to its garment workers

Icddr,b measures the effectiveness of distrib-uting fortified rice

Zanala Bangladesh developed a training mod-ule and arranged awareness workshops

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Nether-lands supports the expansion to 500,000 people

Photo

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: WFP/R

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; WFP/C

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; WFP/A

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