US rice donation to Tanzania comes under scrutiny

Dar es Salaam. Just hours after a debate erupted on social media regarding fortified rice (nutrient-enriched) imported into Tanzania from the United States, Minister of Agriculture Hussein Bashe spoke out, saying that importers should not have brought in that rice since Tanzania has its own rice reserves.

He added that if it's about nutrients, the organization importing that rice should have instead bought local rice and asked their donors to enrich it right here in the country, which would be more beneficial than importing from abroad.

The debate about this rice started on the X platform after the U.S. Embassy page posted a picture showing bags of the rice, saying that it was a donation to "provide nutritious meals to students at the over 300 participating schools in Dodoma."

"Under the 'Pamoja Tuwalishe' (Together let's feed them) initiative, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with Global Communities, has delivered the first donation of high-quality fortified rice, pinto beans, and sunflower seed oil from American farmers directly to schools in Tanzania’s Dodoma region.

Beyond providing nutritious meals, students at the over 300 participating schools will also start school gardens and learn rainwater harvesting techniques.

A fully replicable model, this program reflects the U.S. commitment to fostering health, education, and opportunity for children across the globe," the Embassy wrote.

Global Communities said it began implementing the first phase of the McGovern-Dole Food for Education project in Tanzania in 2010 with funding from the USDA. The programme is now in its fourth phase. However, commenting on the issue, Bashe stated that Tanzania produces enough rice and beans.

 "We told the NGO, tell the Americans that we have rice and beans in this country, and the money they use to give American farmers, they should give it to Tanzanian farmers. Let's buy rice and beans from Tanzania, and then let the nutrients they want to add be added here in Tanzania; we all see that," said Bashe, emphasizing that he has informed the NGO that Tanzania is self-sufficient in food.

Tanzania expects to harvest 5 million tonnes of rice this year, up from an estimated 2.3 million tonnes previously, while national demand for the staple food stands at slightly over 1 million tonnes.

Fortification of rice and stunted growth

 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micronutrient, such as vitamins and minerals, in a food to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal health risk.

According to the 2022 Journal of Health Research in Tanzania, a study revealed that the prevalence of stunting was 54.3 percent while wasting stood at 3.7 percent.

The latest Tanzania Nutrition Survey, 32 percent of children under 5 years old in Tanzania suffer from chronic malnutrition (stunting or low height-for-age), and 14 percent of children under five years old are underweight.

Studies also show that one in six children aged 24-35 months in Tanzania is severely stunted. While Unicef echoes that nearly one-third of children under 5 are stunted, micronutrient deficiencies remain a public health concern.

As a result, WHO says that fortification of rice with vitamin A may be used as a public health strategy to improve the iron status and vitamin A nutrition of populations.

Unicef reports that Tanzania is making progress in reducing the prevalence of stunting among children under five.

Dodoma, the country's capital and where the rice and bean donations were delivered, is among the regions that have recorded a significant decrease in the prevalence of stunting, as reported by the Ministry of Health, the National Bureau of Statistics, and Unicef.