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Field
Intervention (Public)
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Before
Our proposed project will leverage the existing state-run public distribution system (PDS) to provide fortified rice using a domestically manufactured rice grain (Fortified Rice Kernels, or FRK). FRKs are grains made from rice flour, highly enriched with iron and other micronutrients (such as Vitamin A, B9 and Vitamin B12), and shaped like a conventional grain of rice. It is mixed into conventional rice in specified ratios (1g of FRK 100g of conventional rice) and is almost indistinguishable from conventional rice in appearance and taste.
The Tamil Nadu PDS already provides up to 20 kilograms of rice at no cost to all households in the state, with an additional 15 kilograms to households identified as particularly poor. This is done through a widespread network of Fair Price Shopes (FPS). Our proposed project (implementation and accompanying evaluation) will be conducted as a cluster-randomized controlled trial, with baseline and follow-up surveys conducted 12-15 months apart. In the interim, 110 Treatment FPS will be randomly assigned to receive rice fortified with UR, and another 110 randomly assigned Control FPS will continue receiving conventional rice. We plan to conduct the study in one sub-district of Tamil Nadu with a population of about 1/2 million people.
In cluster, we will randomly select 40 households to participate in the baseline and follow-up surveys. These surveys will collect information about dietary patterns and socio-economic status – and importantly, they will also collect objectively measured health indicators (biomarkers), enabling us to test directly for anemia and micronutrient deficiencies.
To implement the intervention we will use the Government pre-existing PDS system. Every household in Tamil Nadu has a card that entitles it monthly to a pre-specified quantity of rice (and other goods) from a specific location that belongs to a network of so called Fair Price Shops (FPS). These FPS in turn receive rice from government-run warehouses (called godowns) where rice is delivered from a central procurement system and then bagged.
Our treatment and control interventions will be implemented as follows:
Arm 1 (Treatment): PDS rice fortified with Ultra Rice. All households receiving rice from the PDS will receive fortified rice instead of conventional PDS rice. Because a given FPS only receives rice from a single upstream distributor (godown) it should be straightforward to ensure that fortified rice reaches the appropriate treatment FPS and only those FPS.
Arm 2 (Control): Conventional PDS Rice. FPS assigned to this arm will continue receiving conventional (non-fortified) PDS rice. This experimental arm therefore represents the status quo and serves as a control group against which any improvements observed in the treatment group will be gauged.
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After
Our proposed project will leverage the existing state-run public distribution system (PDS) to provide fortified rice using a domestically manufactured rice grain (Fortified Rice Kernels, or FRK). FRKs are grains made from rice flour, highly enriched with iron and other micronutrients (such as Vitamin A, B9 and Vitamin B12), and shaped like a conventional grain of rice. It is mixed into conventional rice in specified ratios (1g of FRK 100g of conventional rice) and is almost indistinguishable from conventional rice in appearance and taste.
The Tamil Nadu PDS already provides up to 20 kilograms of rice at no cost to all households in the state, with an additional 15 kilograms to households identified as particularly poor. This is done through a widespread network of Fair Price Shops (FPS). Our proposed project (implementation and accompanying evaluation) will be conducted as a cluster-randomized controlled trial, with baseline and follow-up surveys conducted 12-15 months apart. In the interim, 110 Treatment FPS will be randomly assigned to receive fortified rice, and another 110 randomly assigned Control FPS will continue receiving conventional rice. We plan to conduct the study in one sub-district of Tamil Nadu with a population of about 1/2 million people.
In cluster, we will randomly select 40 households to participate in the baseline and follow-up surveys. These surveys will collect information about dietary patterns and socio-economic status – and importantly, they will also collect objectively measured health indicators (biomarkers), enabling us to test directly for anemia and micronutrient deficiencies.
To implement the intervention we will use the Government pre-existing PDS system. Every household in Tamil Nadu has a card that entitles it monthly to a pre-specified quantity of rice (and other goods) from a specific location that belongs to a network of so called Fair Price Shops (FPS). These FPS in turn receive rice from government-run warehouses (called godowns) where rice is delivered from a central procurement system and then bagged.
Our treatment and control interventions will be implemented as follows:
Arm 1 (Treatment): PDS fortified rice. All households receiving rice from the PDS will receive fortified rice instead of conventional PDS rice. Because a given FPS only receives rice from a single upstream distributor (godown) it should be straightforward to ensure that fortified rice reaches the appropriate treatment FPS and only those FPS.
Arm 2 (Control): Conventional PDS Rice. FPS assigned to this arm will continue receiving conventional (non-fortified) PDS rice. This experimental arm therefore represents the status quo and serves as a control group against which any improvements observed in the treatment group will be gauged.
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