NEW DELHI: The Centre is looking to take forward the rice fortification model of Gajapati district in Odisha to other parts of the country to deal with nutritional deficiency among school going children through midday meal scheme programme. It also wants to explore the option of extending fortification to flour.
The idea was discussed with executive director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, when she had met Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan and senior officials of his ministry last week.
Recent advances in food technology have led to the production of ‘fortified rice kernels’, which can be machine blended with regular rice to increase the nutritional value. Taking advantage of this new technology, the WFP has collaborated with the Odisha government to fortify the rice used under the midday meal scheme with iron. At present, this programme — launched as a pilot project of rice fortification — is running successfully in all 1,449 schools in Gajapati district in the state.
Cousin told TOI that the minister and food secretary, during the meeting, encouraged the WFP to move beyond rice fortification and to work with them on the issue of flour fortification as well. She said, “We are working with the government on fortification activities including rice fortification. We embraced the suggestion (of flour fortification) and we continue to work with them as we move forward.”
The WFP claimed that the model of rice fortification has found high acceptance among students of Gajapati district where it had trained school staff involved in the preparation of the meal on how to properly cook the fortified rice for maximum nutritional impact. Asked about the purpose of her visit, Cousin said, “We came here because of the importance of India’s response to the zero hunger challenge. If we can solve the issue of hunger in India, we can achieve zero hunger in the world.”
Vishwa Mohan | TNN | Jan 20, 2016, 06.51 AM IST
