Bhubaneshwar: The Assistant Executive Director for Program and Policy Development, World Food Programme, Valerie N. Guarnieri, met with Odisha Development Commissioner Anu Garg during her visit to the State today to discuss ongoing and future partnerships.
Guarineri thanked the Development Commissioner and the State government, for their longstanding support and engagement in jointly finding innovative solutions to advance good nutrition and food security for the vulnerable population in Odisha. She also expressed gratitude for several pioneering initiatives that the State has undertaken to improve access to food for PDS beneficiaries, such as doorstep delivery of food grains, distribution on fixed days, and outlets with hot-cooked meals at highly subsidised rates.
Garg welcomed the Assistant Executive Director and assured that the State’s over six-decade-old partnership with WFP will continue to grow as the State is committed to the sustainable development Goals to deliver food and nutritional security. Discussion was held to revive millet in the food basket under its social safety net schemes in the Government of Odisha.
AED also thanked the development commissioner for the recent approval of the government for the standalone Grain ATM (Annapurti) launched in Bhubaneswar and informed her that the beneficiaries have utilised the solution well. She also congratulated the State on its successful scale-up of rice fortification across all food-based safety net programmes and asked if the State Government may consider introducing universal rice fortification in the open market.
The two also discussed the new Odisha Government’s perspectives, priorities and nutrition security and how WFP can further assist. Representative and Country Director of WFP in India, Elisabeth Faure, and State office head, Himanshu Bal, were also present at the meeting.
