ന്യൂട്രിമിക്‌സ് പോഷകഗുണ വര്‍ദ്ധിപ്പിക്കല്‍- വയനാട്ടിലെ യൂണിറ്റുകളിലെല്ലാം പദ്ധതി നടപ്പാക്കും

The Executive Committee of the Department of Women and Child approved the scale-up of the Amrutham Take Home Ration Fortification to all Nutrimix production units in Wayanad district. Fortification of Take Home Rations is the collaborative project between Kudumbashree Mission, Department of Women and Child Development and United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), which aims to deliver fortified blended foods to children between 6-36 months of age through Integrated Child Development Services Programme in Kerala.

As per the MoU signed between the Government of Kerala and United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), with the intention of demonstrating that fortification can be well implemented in government systems and schemes with adequate capacity building of the women’s neighbourhood groups, starting in December 2016, Kudumbashree Mission in collaboration with UNWFP and the Social Justice Department (SJD), had setup a fortification demonstration at the Snehadeepam Amrutham Nutrimix unit in Vellamunda panchayath in Manathavady block of Wayanad district.

Fortification is a practice of deliberately increasing the micronutrient content of a food, so as to improve the nutritional quality of food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health. As per the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau Survey 2012, average intake of children (1-3 years) for recommended micronutrients was found to be much lower than the required, resulting in the consequent malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. According to the World Health Organization, young children between 6-36 months of age catered to by the Integrated Child Development Services Programme and Kudumbashree, should receive foods which provide sufficient energy, protein and micronutrients to cover a child’s energy and nutrient gaps. The pilot project in Mananthavady aimed to address the same as well. Micronutrients may be provided to these children through dietary diversification, supplementation or fortification. Food fortification however is the most cost-effective strategy by which the micronutrients are added to foods leading to rapid improvement in the micronutrient status of various population groups at a reasonable cost without requiring any behavioural change.

As of date, 163.5 metric tonnes of fortified Amrutham Nutrimix has been produced by the Snehadeepam unit in Wayanad and distributed to all 148 Anganwadi centres in the project area. The pilot project has efficiently demonstrated that, Take Home Ration can be easily fortified by addition of micronutrient premix to the existing recipe of Amrutham Nutrimix while using the same equipment’s available at the Nutrimix production unit. The beneficiary response and acceptability of fortified Amrutham as observed during the pilot project has been highly encouraging. As part of scaling-up the Take Home Ration fortification initiative across Kerala, the project will be initially extended to all Nutrimix production units in Wayanad district followed by other districts in the State. UNWFP will support with capacity building of all the units engaged in nutri-mix production in Wayanad.