Public and Private Sector Dynamics in Scaling Up Rice Fortification: The Colombian Experience and its Lessons.

BACKGROUND: Fortification of cereal grains with at least iron or folic acid is legislated in 85 countries worldwide. Relative to wheat and maize flour, rice fortification is relatively new and provides an opportunity to deliver essential micronutrients to populations that consume rice as a dietary staple. OBJECTIVE: To describe miller and public sector experiences and perspectives on rice fortification with micronutrients in Colombia and offer recommendations for policy makers. METHODS: Interviews with Colombian rice millers, research and development personnel, and public sector leaders; desk review of key documents. RESULTS: In Colombia, rice fortified with micronutrients is market driven and a few very large rice millers, currently representing about 35% of the market, have voluntarily fortified rice since 2002. The technology used (spraying) is unique to Colombia and to date there is no independent verification of nutrient retention after washing and cooking rice fortified through this technology. Millers are unwilling to switch to more proven methods, such as extrusion or coating, which will incur higher capital investment and recurring costs. Despite interest from multiple stakeholders between 2002 and 2011, mandatory rice fortification is not part of the Colombian government policy as of July 2015. CONCLUSION: Rice fortified with micronutrients through spraying technology has achieved moderate coverage in Colombia, but the technology is unproven, its effectiveness unknown, and public health impact likely limited. For rice fortification to be an effective nutrition intervention to improve micronutrient status, policy makers should explore standards to guide industry and improvements to regulatory capacity.

Piloting a Commercial Model for Fortified Rice: Lessons Learned From Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Two billion people worldwide have micronutrient deficiencies. Food fortification is a proven intervention to increase essential micronutrient availability in diets without requiring consumer behavioral change. Fortification of rice has high potential reach; however, cost, technology, market, and cultural constraints have prevented its wider adoption. OBJECTIVE: From 2010 to 2014, PATH and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition implemented a pilot project in Brazil testing a model to scale up rice fortification through commercial channels. The project focused on 5 areas: (1) building fortified rice kernel production capacity; (2) supply chain development; (3) distribution channel and market development; (4) demand generation; and (5) advocacy and knowledge dissemination. METHODS: Primary data were collected in 2 rounds of quantitative research 6 months apart and conducted in 2 regions in Brazil. Secondary data were sourced from published literature, socioeconomic and demographic data, and sales figures from the project's rice miller partner. Postmortem analysis was conducted by the project team with input from external sources. RESULTS: Although the project successfully launched a fortified rice product and a category brand platform, it was unsuccessful in reaching meaningful scale. Market and industry dynamics affected producers' willingness to launch new fortified products. Consumers' strong attachment to rice combined with a weak understanding of micronutrient malnutrition hampered demand creation efforts. CONCLUSION: This project showed that a purely commercial approach is insufficient for sustainable scale-up of fortified rice to achieve public health goals in a 3- to 5-year period.

Rice fortification: a comparative analysis in mandated settings.

Legal mandates can play an important role in the success of rice fortification programs that involve the private sector. However, merely enacting mandatory legislation does not guarantee success; it requires a coordinated, multidimensional cross-sector effort that addresses stewardship, develops an appropriate rice fortification technology, enables sustainable production and distribution channels through a range of private-sector players, ensures quality, generates consumer demand, and monitors progress. Furthermore, economic sustainability must be built into the supply chain and distribution network to enable the program to outlast government administrations and/or time-limited funding. Hence, mandates can serve as valuable long-term enablers of cross-sector mobilization and collaboration and as catalysts of civil society engagement in and ownership of fortification programs. This paper compares the rice fortification experiences of Costa Rica and the Philippines--two countries with mandates, yet distinctly different industry landscapes. Costa Rica has achieved national success through strong government stewardship and active market development--key elements of success regardless of industry structure. With a comparatively more diffuse rice industry structure, the Philippines has also had success in limited geographies where key stakeholders have played an active role in market development. A comparative analysis provides lessons that may be relevant to other rice fortification programs.