Ghana Wheat Flour and Vegetable Oil Fortification Project

Project Overview

In November 2006, GAIN awarded the Food and Drugs Board of Ghana, in partnership with the National Food Fortification Alliance, US$ 1.80 million to fortify wheat flour and vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is fortified with vitamin A and wheat flour is fortified with iron, zinc, vitamin A, folic acid (B9), thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3) and cobalamin (B12). Funding goes towards activities including: purchase of premix; improvement of quality assurance systems that verify correct fortification levels; and development of consumer education campaigns around fortification.

Goal

The goal of the project is to reduce the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia by 20 percent within five years.

Impact

When at full-scale, the project aims to reach 85 percent of the population with fortified wheat flour and 78 percent with fortified vegetable oil.

Achievements

Key achievements include the launch of fortified products in commercial markets, the exemption of tariffs and charges on fortification and the training of laboratory and industry staff in quality assurance. As of March 2010, an estimated 10.7 million people (46.9 percent of the population) were consuming fortified wheat flour and an estimated 4.7 million fortified vegetable oil.

Duration

The project is expected to become sustainable in 2011.