The Agriculture Ministry in collaboration with the Health, Education Ministries and the National Food Promotion Board has taken measures to provide lunch for primary school students.
A student will be given 75 grams of rice per day. Fortified rice containing folic acid, iron and vitamins will be provided for this lunch to increase the nutrition of schoolchildren.
A discussion for this was held recently at the Agriculture Ministry and during the discussion the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has agreed to provide US$27 million to a programme to ensure nutrition demand of primary school students. The minister has instructed officials who participated in the discussion to initiate action to provide an egg a day to all the children who are given this rice meal. The amount of rice needed per day for the nutritious food of schoolchildren is estimated to be 82 metric tonnes and the minister agreed to provide that amount of rice through the Paddy Marketing Board. The economic crisis in the country and the rise in food prices and food shortages have greatly affected the nutrition of schoolchildren.
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