The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), an International non-governmental organisation and UN World Food Programme (WFP), are partnering with the Federal Government to promote rice fortification to address malnutrition.
The organisations made the commitment at the first National Summit on Rice Fortification on Thursday in Abuja.
The event tagged: “Seeking New Solutions for Malnutrition in Nigeria”, is organised by the Promoting Rice Fortification in Nigeria (PRiFN) project implemented by GAIN Nigeria and the WFP.
Dr Michael Ojo, Country Director, GAIN Nigeria, said that it was important to introduce nutrient enriched food products to address the deficiencies of vitamins and minerals, which posed severe health and economic threat to the country.
According to him, the rice fortification project which targets children under five, women of reproductive age, pregnant and nursing mothers, will also afford Nigerians the opportunity to meet up with their nutritional requirements.
He added that rice which was one of the essential staple for more than 50 per cent of the 210 million population in the country, offered an excellent window for massive health impact.
He said that the organisations were already working with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, among others, to achieve the feat.
“The reason why we are talking about rice fortification is because large scale fortification works when a lot of people are consuming a particular food vehicle.
“When we designed the programme in 2002, maize and wheat were the staples mostly consumed, as you could find them in most households across the country.
“Over the years, rice has moved from something that we consume only on Sundays or festive seasons to an everyday food and most people across all income groups now consume rice multiple times every week or sometimes in a day.
“The opportunity for rice to be a vehicle for delivering essential micro-nutrients that we are not getting in our foods, has now become ripe,” he added.
He, however, added that for the project to be successful there was need for mandatory compliance by all rice companies and producers to comply with the standards that would be set by the government.
On his part, Mr Serigne Loum, Head of Programme, WFP Nigeria, said the choice of rice fortification became important to address the pervasive micro-nutrients deficiencies among Nigerians.
He added that it would boost the nation’s economy as the country would be seen as the hub for rice fortification, not only for the local consumption but also for exporting to other West African countries.
“Malnutrition is a major issue now in Nigeria, especially when we look at it in comparison to some other countries, as acute malnutrition affects more than 2.5 million children in the country.
“Micro-nutrients deficiency affects 50 per cent in the form of anaemia for children between six and 59 months, for women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating mothers.
“Malnutrition is also one of the major causes of mortality of those set of people in Nigeria and it is very concerning.
“If we want improved health in Nigeria, it will be very important to invest more in fighting malnutrition and micro-nutrients deficiency specifically,” he added.
The summit, which had both physical and virtual participants, had representatives from various government MDAs, National Fortification Alliance, Rice Processors Association of Nigeria, Rice Millers Association of Nigeria, among others.
