Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 6: In a bid to provide nutritious food to school children, the state government has decided to serve multi-micronutrient fortified rice in Mid-Day Meal (MDM) in schools in Dhenkanal district soon.
“Multiple micronutrient fortified rice affects physical performance of children. It also boosts the plasma vitamin B-12 and homocysteine concentration among them. It is indeed a good move by government to serve such rice during MDM,” said scientist DP Mallik of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT).
The state government has earlier taken up the project in Gajapati district where the children were served rice with iron nutrient to children. “We have initiated a pilot project in Gajapati district where we have served rice with iron nutrients to students after we found that children were suffering from iron deficiency,” said MDM state nodal officer G Sahu.
Sahu further said the state has been planning to serve multi-micronutrient fortified rice comprising iron, calcium and magnesium in Dhenkanal district.
“Currently, many schoolchildren are being served with normal rice. We are extending this project to provide nutritious food to the schoolchildren. After Dhenkanl, the project will be extended to other districts in a phased manner and according to their need,” Sahu said.
Currently, the state nodal officer is in the process of collecting reports from the teachers and parents about the effects of nutritional rice served to schoolchildren in Gajapati district. The project will be taken up in Dhenkanal very soon, the sources said.
According to health experts, serving fortified rice with multiple micronutrients could be a promising strategy for combating deficiencies among children.
Earlier, a similar project was introduced in Bangalore in 2012 which proved to be immensely beneficial for children suffering from anemia.
