USAID, Hilina To Supply Nutrition Supplements For Ethiopian Children

SATURDAY, 19 JUNE 2010 09:35 NEWBUSINESSETHIOPIA.COM

Hilina Enriched Foods of Addis Ababa, Afran Kallo Union of local cooperatives in East Hararghe (Oromiya), Mercy Corps and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) agreed to cooperate on the steady supply and safe production of the Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) known as PlumpyNut.

The signing ceremony, followed by a factory tour, took place at Hilina Enriched Foods today. Hilini is the largest African producer of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food in Africa. PlumpyNut is manufactured here under license from Nutriset, a French company and shareholder in Hilina.

Hilina Enriched Foods General Manager Hilina Belete and seven representatives of the Afran Kallo Union, including Chairman Abdurahman Yuyo, signed an agreement for long term groundnut supply for RUTF production.

Groundnuts grown in the East Hararghe area are known throughout Ethiopia for their size and taste, but Hilinas supply of RUTF currently falls short of demand because of limited supply of good quantity and fungus-free groundnuts in the country.

Children in food insecure areas depend on PlumpyNut to safeguard their health and growth as well as to recover from severe acute malnutrition. Mercy Corps, through the USAID-funded Revitalizing Agricultural/Pastoral Incomes and New Markets (RAIN) program operating in East Ha rarghe and neighboring areas of Somali Region, facilitated the negotiations between the ground nut suppliers and the manufacturer.

Mercy Corps, together with Hilina Enriched Foods quality assurance department, will provide the groundnut farmers training to enable them to adhere to strict harvesting, storage and processing standards. Groundnuts used in PlumpyNut must be free of a fungus (aflatoxin) that often appears because of poor harvesting and storage techniques in humid climates.

Hilina is also the only company in Addis that has the testing equipment and appropriate food laboratory required to test for the fungus. Hilina Enriched Foods has rented warehouse space in Harar and will be installing a groundnut shelling machine and procuring field testing devices for aflatoxins. Most of the programs that have been operational in the Somali Region and East Hararghe have been emergency programs. This agreement provides a sustainable solution that connects business people at different points of a supply chain to meet new market demand and increase incomes.

The RAIN program is working towards market solutions to increase incomes in East Hararghe in Oromiya and neighboring areas of Somali Region by assisting households to build up their assets and resistance to natural shocks, increasing food and economic security, explained Richard Quinby of USAIDs Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA).

This agreement provides Ethiopian groundnut growers a long-term buyer and allows Hilina Enriched Foods to continue to expand their business supplying RUTFs as well as other products beyond Ethiopia.

Its a win-win for all the parties involved, said USAID Acting Director, Nancy Estes. Were achieving important nutrition goals while expanding opportunities for local producers and manufacturers. Hilina was established in 1998 to undertake the manufacturing and processing of a range of food products specifically designed to combat the various forms of malnutrition and other micronutrient deficiencies affecting children and other vulnerable groups in Ethiopia.