Under Phase-1, which was completed in 2021-22, nearly 17 LMT fortified rice had been distributed under ICDS and PM-POSHAN. (File photo)Over 90 districts across 16 states have started lifting fortified rice to distribute under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and a quantity of 2.20 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) has already been distributed in the first two months of the financial year 2022-23—April and May—under the second phase of the implementation of the rice fortification programme, the Department of Food and Public Distribution said Monday.
Addressing a press conference, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Panday said, “In the second phase… Our idea is, as part of the strategy, to cover all districts which are aspirational districts or heavy burden districts in terms of the malnutrition assessment and that number works out to about 291.”
On August 15, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced his government’s intention to distribute fortified rice under various government schemes including the PDS, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), PM POSHAN, and other welfare schemes (OWS). The Food Department had drawn up a phase-wise plan to implement this announcement.
Under Phase-1, which was completed in 2021-22, nearly 17 LMT fortified rice had been distributed under ICDS and PM-POSHAN. The second phase began on April 1, 2022, under which 291 aspirational and high burden districts are to be covered for fortified rice distribution under the PDS by March 31, 2023.
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Sharing the details of the implementation of the fortification of rice program, S. Jagannathan, Joint Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution, said, “More than 90 districts (in 16 states) have started lifting [fortified rice] so far.” As per the details shared by Jagannathan, 2.20 LMT fortified rice has been distributed till May 31, 2022, under the PDS.
Jagannathan said that all the 291 districts will be covered in the second phase by the end of March 2023 and the remaining districts will be covered by 2024.
Sharing details of the availability of fortified rice, the Food Secretary said, “In this second year [2022-23], our total 175 lakh metric tonnes distribution of fortified rice was to happen. We are in June… I am happy to announce that overcoming all production ecosystem-related issues, we have been able to produce 90 lakh metric tonnes of fortified rice so far. That is the overall availability with the FCI [Food Corporation of India].”
Pandey said that for ICDS and other schemes and covering all the districts under the PDS roughly 350 LMT rice would be required in 2023-24.
The Food Secretary also said that an independent concurrent evaluation would be carried out by the Development Monitoring & Evaluation Office (DMEO) under NITI Aayog of the rice fortification to assess the outcomes and impact of the programme. The Steering Committee in the States will monitor the implementation of the programme, he said.
According to the Food Department, “The FCI and State Agencies are engaged in procurement of fortified rice and so far, nearly 126.25 LMT of fortified rice has been procured for the supply and distribution.”
On this occasion, Dr. Kapil Yadav, Additional Professor, Centre for Community Medicine (CCM), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, also made a presentation on ‘Staple Food Fortification as a Complementary Strategy to Address Micronutrient Vulnerability’. Besides, Dr. Siddharth Waghulkar, Deputy Head- Nutrition and School Feeding unit, United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP) in his presentation on ‘Rice Fortification: Process and Evidence’ briefed about the fortification process and the evidence from various Indian studies.
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