Fortification of Rice Scheme

15 State Governments have identified districts to implement the Fortification of Rice Scheme.

• 15 State Governments have identified districts to implement the Fortification of Rice Scheme.
• According to the World Health Organization, fortification of rice is done by adding micronutrient powder to the rice. This powder adheres to rice grains.
• Scheme to be implemented by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• It is a Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice and its distribution through Public Distribution System.
• The scheme is to be implemented for a period of three years between 2019-20 and 2022-23.
• The scheme was launched to take the country towards nutritional security.
• The distribution of fortified rice is already being implemented by Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.
• The availability of fortified rice kernels in the country is 15,000 metric ton per annum.
• With this Government of India has to cover 112 aspirational districts.
• In order to achieve this around 130 lac metric tons of fortified rice is required.
• The quantity of fortified rice kernels required to achieve this target is 1.3 lakh metric tonnes.
• If the entire Public Distribution system right supply is to be replaced with fortified rice, then, around 3.5 lac metric tons of fortified rice kernels is required.