An introduction to our open market work

Fortify Health partners with millers supplying wheat flour to the open market in Maharashtra and West Bengal, and supports them in setting up and sustaining fortification of their atta. 

Since anaemia has similar prevalence across all socio-economic strata of the population, we believe it is essential to increase open market coverage of fortified wheat flour across the general population of the states we work in. This strategy enables us to reduce anaemia on a wide scale and through the most sustainable means. Our efforts involve generating open-market supply and consumer demand for fortified foods. 

How does Fortify Health provide support to millers?

Our unique approach addresses the challenges millers face while adopting fortification:

Our mill outreach strategy

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​We reach out to wheat flour mills in Maharashtra through various channels: 

• 1. Recommendations from partner mills: As we partner with more and larger mills, we ask them to recommend other mills like theirs which could benefit from our program.
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• 2. Networks of our in-house program team: Our program team includes millers, who help us connect with their colleagues and contacts within the industry.
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• 3. Introduction through other NGOs and organizations: We stay in touch with other organizations working in the areas of food security and fortification to share learnings and networks.
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• 4. Events: We conduct events such as workshops and webinars on atta fortification with support from local government and other partners for millers. As millers learn about our program, they get in touch with us if they are interested in a partnership.

What are we looking forward to:

Fortify Health is looking forward to:

1) partnering with more and larger wheat flour mills in Maharashtra and West Bengal as we expand our network in these states

2) streamlining processes to make the onboarding process as smooth and fast as possible for partner mills

3) developing an advocacy strategy to increase consumer demand for fortified wheat flour in Maharashtra

Association with CFTRI

CSIR−Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore is well known for its expertise in milling technology and food production. It has been an invaluable advisor in developing our in-house expertise in milling and fortification of atta across the spectrum of chakki mills operating in Maharashtra.

​Specifically, Fortify Health has partnered with CSIR - CFTRI to transfer the technology of atta fortification . CFTRI is helping to train Fortify Health’s partner mills in atta fortification through workshops, training, and mill visits. CSIR-CFTRI is providing us with valuable technical advice on setting up fortification in mills, including pre-fabrication work needed in mills for fortification.

Testimonial from our partner mill: Nutrapoorna, Mumbai

"We have been partnering with Fortify Health for the last 1.5 years in order to start fortification in our mill. Fortify Health covers the cost of equipment, premix & quality control and also provides know-how about fortification. We introduced fortification for two atta varieties in our mill last year and it has been a smooth process. We have found Fortify Health to be a professional and reliable partner.

​Fortification increases the content of iron, folic acid & vitamin B12 in atta to improve its nutrition content for our customers. Nutrapoorna is happy to contribute towards reducing anaemia and neural tube defects in Maharashtra."

- Bharat Ratan Jadhav
  Manager, Nutrapoorna, Mumbai