India’s Fortification Fight: Addressing Hidden Hunger through Food Fortification and Biofortification

Why in News?

• India continues to face a serious nutrition challenge involving under-nutrition, over-nutrition and micronutrient deficiency. The Global Nutrition Report 2026 estimates that nearly 2.6 billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet. Food fortification and biofortification are being promoted as important strategies to address hidden hunger in India.

Understanding Hidden Hunger

Hidden hunger refers to the deficiency of essential micronutrients such as iron, iodine, zinc, folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.

A person affected by hidden hunger may get enough calories but may still lack essential vitamins and minerals. This makes the problem difficult to identify in the early stages.

Hidden hunger can lead to:

• Weak immunity
• Poor physical growth
• Anaemia
• Learning difficulties among children
• Low productivity in adulthood
• Higher disease burden

Thus, hidden hunger is not only a health issue. It is also linked with education, productivity, poverty reduction and human capital development.

India’s Malnutrition Challenge

India faces a multi-pronged malnutrition problem. It includes both lack of nutrition and excess nutrition.

The major forms are:

• Under-nutrition: Low intake of adequate food and nutrients.
• Micronutrient malnutrition: Deficiency of essential vitamins and minerals.
• Over-nutrition: Rising obesity and overweight among adults.

According to the World Health Organization, India accounts for nearly one-third of global undernutrition. This shows the scale of India’s public health challenge.

The problem has worsened due to several factors:

• Impact of COVID-19
• Climate change
• Regional conflicts
• Food price rise
• Disruption in food supply chains
• Poor dietary diversity

These factors affect India’s progress towards:

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

What is Food Fortification?

The World Health Organization defines food fortification as the deliberate increase of one or more micronutrients in food.

In simple terms, food fortification means adding essential vitamins and minerals to commonly consumed foods.

It is done to:

• Improve the nutrient value of food
• Restore nutrients lost during processing
• Reduce micronutrient deficiency among large populations
• Improve public health through staple food systems

Examples of Food Fortification

• Iodine added to salt
• Iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 added to rice
• Vitamins A and D added to edible oil
• Double Fortified Salt containing iodine and iron

Food fortification is useful in a country like India because large numbers of people depend on staple foods such as rice, wheat, salt and edible oil.

Global Importance of Food Fortification

Food fortification is widely used across the world as a public health strategy.

According to the Global Nutrition Report:

• More than 100 countries have salt iodisation programmes.
• Salt iodisation has helped prevent nearly 750 million cases of goitre in the past 25 years.
• At least one cereal grain is fortified in 86 countries.
• More than 30 countries have fortified edible oils.

These examples show that food fortification can produce large public health benefits when it is properly implemented and monitored.

What is Biofortification?

Biofortification means increasing the nutrient density of crops at the production stage.

It can be done through:

• Conventional plant breeding
• Transgenic approaches
• Modern biotechnology-based methods

Unlike food fortification, where nutrients are added after harvest during processing, biofortification improves the crop itself.

For example, a biofortified pearl millet variety may naturally contain higher iron content. When people consume such crops regularly, they receive better nutrition through their normal diet.

Promising Results of Biofortification

According to the WHO, iron-biofortified crops have shown encouraging results in different countries.

Examples include:

• Philippines: Iron-biofortified rice
• India: Iron-biofortified pearl millet
• Rwanda: Iron-biofortified beans

These examples show that biofortification can help reduce iron deficiency among target populations.

Biofortification is especially important for rural and low-income communities because it improves nutrition through crops that people already grow and consume.

India’s Progress in Biofortification

Between 2014 and 2024, India developed and released 152 biofortified crop varieties through the National Agricultural Research System.

These include:

• Wheat: 53 varieties
• Millets: 26 varieties
• Maize: 24 varieties
• Rice: 14 varieties
• Oilseeds: 21 varieties
• Pulses: 9 varieties
• Grain amaranth: 5 varieties

This shows that India is trying to integrate nutrition goals with agricultural research.

Biofortified crops can support:

• Nutrition security
• Farmer-level adoption of healthier crops
• Sustainable agriculture
• Reduction in hidden hunger
• Better health outcomes among rural communities

Food Fortification and Biofortification: Difference

Both methods are complementary. India needs both approaches because the scale of malnutrition is large and diverse.

India’s Policy Push for Fortified Food Grains

• India’s focus on fortified food grains increased after the launch of Anemia Mukt Bharat in 2018.
• The objective was to address anaemia and micronutrient deficiency, especially among women, children and adolescents.

Rice Fortification Programme

A pilot programme for rice fortification was launched in 2019.

The fortified rice included:

• Iron
• Folic acid
• Vitamin B12

By March 2024, the Union government decided to replace all custom-milled rice with fortified rice under major government schemes.

These schemes include:

• Public Distribution System
• Integrated Child Development Services
• PM-POSHAN
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

Extension till 2028

The fortified rice scheme was extended till December 2028.

The central government allocation for this was ₹17,082 crore.

PM-POSHAN Guidelines

Under PM-POSHAN, the Department of School Education and Literacy instructed the use of:

• Double Fortified Salt
• Fortified edible oil containing vitamins A and D
• Fortified rice

This is important because schools are a major platform to improve child nutrition.

Temporary Discontinuation under PMGKAY

In February 2026, after a review of PMGKAY, the government temporarily discontinued rice fortification under PMGKAY and allied schemes.

This decision was based on an IIT Kharagpur report, while the government looked for a more robust and effective nutrient-delivery system.

However, this decision does not affect:

• PDS
• ICDS
• Mid-Day Meal schemes

Significance

Food fortification and biofortification are important for India because they directly address micronutrient deficiency.

Public Health Significance

• Reduce anaemia and vitamin deficiency.
• Improve immunity among children and women.
• Help in better physical and mental development.
• Reduce long-term disease burden.

Educational Significance

• Better nutrition improves concentration and learning ability.
• Healthy children are more likely to attend school regularly.
• It supports better outcomes under school nutrition programmes.

Economic Significance

• Malnutrition reduces productivity in adulthood.
• Improved nutrition strengthens human capital.
• A healthier workforce supports long-term economic growth.

Governance Significance

• Fortification can use existing welfare systems such as PDS, ICDS and PM-POSHAN.
• Biofortification connects agriculture with public health.
• It promotes coordination among health, agriculture, education and food departments.

Challenges

• India’s diverse geography and climate make uniform implementation difficult.
• Storage and transportation conditions may affect the shelf life of fortified rice.
• Poor packaging can reduce the quality of fortified food grains.
• Monitoring of nutrient content and quality standards remains essential.
• Biofortified crops require greater awareness among farmers.
• Farmers may need support through subsidised seeds, inputs and assured procurement.
• Nutrition outcomes may not improve if people lack dietary diversity.
• Rising obesity shows that nutrition policy must focus on both deficiency and excess consumption.
• The success of these programmes cannot be judged only by the amount of fortified food distributed.

Way Forward

• Strengthen quality control for fortified food grains at production, storage and distribution stages.
• Promote biofortified seeds through agricultural extension services.
• Provide subsidised seeds and necessary inputs to farmers.
• Encourage assured procurement and minimum support price support for biofortified crops.
• Improve awareness among people about balanced diets and micronutrient needs.
• Use schools, Anganwadi centres and health workers to spread nutrition awareness.
• Link nutrition programmes with local food diversity.
• Measure success through improved health indicators such as reduction in anaemia, stunting, wasting and underweight children.
• Ensure coordination among health, agriculture, food, education and welfare departments.

Conclusion

India must move from mere food security to nutrition security. Food fortification and biofortification can play a major role in reducing hidden hunger, especially among children, women and low-income groups. However, they should be supported by dietary diversity, strong quality control, farmer awareness and effective public health monitoring. A combined approach can improve human capital, promote inclusive development and contribute to India’s goal of Viksit Bharat 2047.