Pilot for bio-fortified indigenous rice varieties in PDS begins to tackle malnutrition
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, February 11: Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday said that the government has launched a pilot project for distribution of indigenously developed bio-fortified verities of rice in the country. The move will supplement government’s ongoing efforts to fortified rice to deal with the challenge of malnutrition in the country.
Currently, the Ministry of Food is executing the Central initiative to provide fortified rice – rice mixed with kernels of zinc, iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 – through the public distribution systems in about 300 districts ranking poor on the nutrition indicator. “Focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to ensure that there are no children in the country suffering from malnutrition. The Indian Agriculture Research Institutes should develop verities of bio-fortified rice, which can boost the nutrition levels,” Tomar said in Odisha, while speaking at the second Rice Congress, which was inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu.
Tomar further stated that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) in Cuttack has developed bio-fortified rice varieties CR 310, CR 311, and CR 315. This institute has so far developed 160 verities of rice in the country. The pilot to introduce the bio-fortified rice in the PDS has begun for which the Union Budget has made provisions, added Tomar. Rice productions in the country jumped from 46 million tonnes in 2010 to 130 million tonnes, added the minister.
Incidentally, CR 310 rice has 10.3 per cent protein content. CR 315 rice has 25 ppm zinc content. CR 311 rice has 10.1 per cent protein and 20 ppm zinc content. The government has launched Mission Nutrition (Poshan Abhiyan) to deal with the incidents of stunting and iron deficiency of women and children in several districts in the country.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, had accorded its approval for supply of fortified rice throughout the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman-PM POSHAN [erstwhile Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM)] and Other Welfare Schemes (OWS) of Government of India in all States and Union Territories (UTs) by 2024 in a phased manner.
The entire cost of rice fortification (around Rs. 2,700 crore per annum) would be borne by the Central government as part of food subsidy till its full implementation upto June, 2024. In the first phase, the programme covered ICDS and PM POSHAN. In the Phase II of the initiative, the campaign will cover Phase I above plus TPDS and OWS in all Aspirational and High Burden Districts on stunting (total 291 districts) by March 2023, the government had said earlier, while adding that Phase II above plus covering the remaining districts of the country will be done by March 2024.
About The Author
