Fortified rice with $5.0m Dutch fund for 0.5m poor people

The government will make available rice fortified with essential vitamins and minerals to 500,000 men, women and children to fight micronutrient deficiencies amongst the poorest in Bangladesh, said a release Wednesday.
The Netherlands will contribute about US$ 5.0 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The programme is a joint initiative between WFP and the Government of Bangladesh, supported by global science company Royal DSM.
Currently, fortified rice is distributed on a trial basis to 3,000 ultra-poor women and their families under the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme in Kurigram and 6,000 disaster-affected families supported by the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme in Satkhira. By 2016, more than 250,000 women, children, and men who rely on these government safety net programmes will receive fortified rice.
In addition, the programme will cover 25,000 schoolchildren who receive cooked school meals and 225,000 people enrolled in the Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters and the Effects of Climate Change programme, implemented jointly by the Government and WFP.
 "One of the aims of the Dutch development cooperation in Bangladesh is to improve the nutrition situation in the country, and fortifying rice with micronutrients is an excellent way of doing this," said Netherlands Ambassador Gerben de Jong.