‘Rice Fortification Panacea For Micro Nutrients, Malnutrition’–Expert

From Ayodele Ajoge, Birnin-Kebbi

Malnutrition remains a global menace especially in Africa and many 3rd world countries, causing untold hardship to its numerous victims. 

This assertion was contained in a presentation by an information expert from Kebbi State Ministry of Information and Culture, Hajia Mariam Abdullahi Zuru at a forum recently in Birnin-Kebbi.

In her submission, Hajia Zuru explained that Malnutrition is mostly caused by inadequate intake of basic nutrients (undernutrition) or intake of excess nutrients into the body (overnutrition, e.g obesity, overweight, etc). There is also micro nutrients malnutrition which simply means deficiencies in vitamins and minerals required by the body in small quantities.

 In Nigeria, according to her, malnutrition is said to be the direct or underlying cause of 45% of deaths in under 5 children, adding that Micro nutrient deficiencies is also a public health challenge and directly responsible for over USD1.5billion GDP loss.

She explained that Kebbi State being a part of the larger Nigeria is not spare of the menace which has remained one of the most challenging public health concerns in the State, Malnutrition, particularly micro nutrient deficiencies among children under five and women of reproductive age, remains a persistent challenge in the State. 

The National Demographic and Health Survey  2018, she said, revealed that 80.8% of children aged 6 to 59 months, 58% of women of reproductive age (15-49 years), and 61% of pregnant women are anaemic, noting that Preliminary findings from the 2021 National Food Consumption and Nutrition Survey further revealed a worsening situation of micro nutrients deficiency.

The State Governor, Dr Nasir Idris according to her, is making bold his promise of working to improve the well being of the people of the State by facing the fight against malnutrition with all the seriousness it deserves. 

Pointing out that in his bid to drastically reduce the micro nutrient deficiencies across the state, the administration brokered a partnership with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) through the Promoting Rice Fortification in Nigeria (PRiFN) project to pilot rice fortification.

She Stated that the State became the first to produce, distribute and consume fortified rice in Nigeria, adding that the State is leveraging on its leadership position in rice production in the Country to reach out to its people with fortified rice packed with adequate vitamins and minerals as a micro nutrient deficiency control strategy.

Hajia Zuru noted that, to sustain the gains of the pilot of rice fortification in the State, Gov Nasir Idris approved the appropriation of one hundred million naira (N100,000,000) in the 2024 Kebbi state budget signed into law.

 Expressing that the fund would enable the state to optimize the States owned rice mill (under the supervision of the Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources) to produce quality fortified rice and would also help Kebbi state to provide the required technological support to modular, small, and medium scale rice millers especially women in the state to produce quality fortified rice for consumption by school age children and people in the rural communities with  micro nutrients deficiency. 

The Information expert said the State would leverage on its partnership with PRiFN to train rice millers across the 21 local government areas of the State and promote the consumption of fortified rice through awareness, creation and sensitization on the benefits of consuming fortified rice.

She stated that in 2023, about 7,500 school age children were fed with fortified rice, the State however, now targets all  school age children with fortified rice in 2024 whilst scaling up awareness campaigns through already trained information officers of the State Ministry of Information and Culture.

It would be recalled that the Kebbi State Governor launched the first ever fortified rice produced in the Country.