The document discusses two strategies for integrating biofortified crops into public food distribution systems (PFDS): a push strategy focused on seed supply and crop production, and a pull strategy focused on creating demand. PFDS can stimulate demand for biofortified crops by procuring and distributing them through food subsidies, safety nets, and disaster relief programs. This ensures adequate supplies reach vulnerable groups and incentives encourage farmers to grow biofortified varieties. With policymaker support, PFDS have potential to significantly improve nutrition and food security by targeting the poor with biofortified staples.

1. Getting Biofortification Into the Public
Food Distribution System
Akhter Ahmed
International Food Policy Research Institute
First Global Conference on Biofortification
Washington, D.C.
November 9-11, 2010

2. Two Delivery Strategies
for Biofortification
The push strategy
supply oriented
focuses on seed supply and production of biofortified
crops
The pull strategy
demand oriented
focuses on creating demand for biofortified crops
Public food distribution system (PFDS) can stimulate
demand for biofortified crops
An ideal delivery mechanism

3. What Does a PFDS Seek to Achieve?
Make food available to poor households
Distribute food during emergency situations, such as
natural disasters
Provide incentive prices to food producers to encourage
domestic production
Stabilize market prices of food to prevent excessive price
rises

4. How Does PFDS Work?
Food
Procurement
Food
Storage
Food
Distribution
Food
subsidy
Safety nets
Disaster
relief

5. Food Procurement
Government procures staple food grains from farmers
Provides price support for increased crop production,
farmer income
Use the supply oriented push strategy for pushing
biofortified crops into the farming system, particularly in
the major procurement zones of PFDS
Ensure adequate supply of biofortified seed in the
market and motivate the farmers to adopt the
production of biofortified crops

6. Food Storage and Stock Management
Adequate and modern storage capacity is needed for
maintaining the quantity and quality of stock of grains in
PFDS
Since grain reserves are costly to maintain, determining
the optimum level of grain reserves for PFDS storage is
very important
Stock rotation is an important element of PFDS efficiency
PFDS stocks of food grains must be rotated to
accommodate new stocks and to prevent losses
resulting from quality deterioration
Rotation needs outlets, such as food-based safety
nets

7. Food Distribution
PFDS usually operates through distribution outlets that
broadly fall into two groups:
Monetized (sale) channels
food is sold at subsidized prices through a network
fair price or ration shops
Nonmonetized (free distribution) channels
disaster relief operations
food-based safety net programs

8. Distribution Through Safety Nets
Food-based safety nets makes food available to poor
households that would not otherwise have access to
adequate food
Often combined with some welfare-related programs:
Midday Meal program in India distributes prepared
hot meals to children in school
Food-for-education program in Bangladesh
distributed free food grains to low-income families if
their children attended primary school
Both school feeding and food-for-education programs
provide immediate sustenance for the hungry, while
empowering future generations by educating today’s
children

9. Distribution Through Safety Nets
Vulnerable Group Development Program in
Bangladesh
Participants receive a monthly free ration of rice or
wheat in exchange for attending training for income
generation; basic literacy, numeracy, nutrition, and
awareness raising training; and making savings
deposits
Food-for-work programs
Food is used as wage payment to workers. They
play a dual role, providing employment to the poor,
and creating public assets such as rural roads.

10. Way Forward
PFDS can create an institutional demand for
biofortification. Will work especially well if
high volumes of biofortified crops are procured through
PFDS
the system targets the poor. As PFDS outlets, well-
targeted food-based safety nets will improve food
security of the poor and reduce their micronutrient
deficiency or hidden hunger
For enhancing the integration of biofortification into
PFDS, it is important that policymakers are made aware
of the benefits of biofortification