Anisul Islam Noor :
The project aiming at edible oil with Vitamin- A enrichment fell flat due to lack of responsibility from the companies entrusted with the task, said a Planning Ministry report.
The Ministry of Industries took up the project involving Tk 24.22 crore with the help of the UNICEF.
The enrichment of palm and soybean oil with Vitamin-A is beneficial for human health. It helps reduce the child and maternal mortality risks as well as other health risks caused by Vitamin-A deficiency.
The project initially fixed the target to raise the level of Vitamin-A to 20,000 IUs in all refined palm and soybean oil. It also aimed to bring 5.81 crore children and 3.21 crore women under the coverage Vitamin A-enriched oil programme by 2012.
The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the ministry report says that during the project implementation period 16 refinery companies signed memorandums of understanding (MoU). Of them, four companies enriched their edible oil with Vitamin A. But the retailers and consumers were not aware of the Vitamin A enrichment. However, the companies that enriched their oil did it perfectly.
The packets of their soybean oil contain 20,000 IUs of Vitamin A. The samples collected from the refiners and the retailers do not show that much difference between the levels of Vitamin A, the report says.
The IMED recommendations over the failure of the project are: Loose oil should be enriched with Vitamin A to ensure the oil’s full-scale enrichment and remove its deficiency at the consumers’ level, the level of Vitamin A in oil should be fixed keeping in mind the target population, and taking programmes to raise awareness of the people about this.
The IMED got this picture while evaluating the impact of the project implementation recently, but abstained from disclosing the name of the company responsible for it for an unknown reason.
IMED Secretary Shahidullah Khandker told the reporters that the project was not successful up to the expectation. “We held meetings on the project, found out the shortcomings and the reasons of the failure. The final report has been sent to the ministry concerned. We hope the shortcomings will be addressed before adoption of any such new project in public interest to check repetition. Very soon the report on the impact of the project will be published.”
Replying to a question, he said in future the IMED would not only recommend, but will also monitor how far the ministry and the divisions did their works them.
When asked about the names of the responsible companies, IMED Director General Salma Mahmud, who was tasked with evaluation of the project impact, said that it was not possible to disclose the names right at the moment. It involved hassles. On finalization of the report, everything would be known.
When asked, why they were dillydallying to give names of the companies involved on completion of the project, she cited different excuses before advising to go to the industries ministry.
The project aiming at edible oil with Vitamin- A enrichment fell flat due to lack of responsibility from the companies entrusted with the task, said a Planning Ministry report.
The Ministry of Industries took up the project involving Tk 24.22 crore with the help of the UNICEF.
The enrichment of palm and soybean oil with Vitamin-A is beneficial for human health. It helps reduce the child and maternal mortality risks as well as other health risks caused by Vitamin-A deficiency.
The project initially fixed the target to raise the level of Vitamin-A to 20,000 IUs in all refined palm and soybean oil. It also aimed to bring 5.81 crore children and 3.21 crore women under the coverage Vitamin A-enriched oil programme by 2012.
The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the ministry report says that during the project implementation period 16 refinery companies signed memorandums of understanding (MoU). Of them, four companies enriched their edible oil with Vitamin A. But the retailers and consumers were not aware of the Vitamin A enrichment. However, the companies that enriched their oil did it perfectly.
The packets of their soybean oil contain 20,000 IUs of Vitamin A. The samples collected from the refiners and the retailers do not show that much difference between the levels of Vitamin A, the report says.
The IMED recommendations over the failure of the project are: Loose oil should be enriched with Vitamin A to ensure the oil’s full-scale enrichment and remove its deficiency at the consumers’ level, the level of Vitamin A in oil should be fixed keeping in mind the target population, and taking programmes to raise awareness of the people about this.
The IMED got this picture while evaluating the impact of the project implementation recently, but abstained from disclosing the name of the company responsible for it for an unknown reason.
IMED Secretary Shahidullah Khandker told the reporters that the project was not successful up to the expectation. “We held meetings on the project, found out the shortcomings and the reasons of the failure. The final report has been sent to the ministry concerned. We hope the shortcomings will be addressed before adoption of any such new project in public interest to check repetition. Very soon the report on the impact of the project will be published.”
Replying to a question, he said in future the IMED would not only recommend, but will also monitor how far the ministry and the divisions did their works them.
When asked about the names of the responsible companies, IMED Director General Salma Mahmud, who was tasked with evaluation of the project impact, said that it was not possible to disclose the names right at the moment. It involved hassles. On finalization of the report, everything would be known.
When asked, why they were dillydallying to give names of the companies involved on completion of the project, she cited different excuses before advising to go to the industries ministry.
