Tajikistan: Armchair Assessments Maintain Momentum

When the pandemic made an in-person mill assessment in Tajikistan impossible, FFI took a virtual approach.

In July 2019, legislation mandating that wheat flour be fortified came into effect across Tajikistan. Yet evidence in late 2019 showed that compliance with the legislation was low. In order to ensure compliance and that Tajikistanis would receive critical nutrients through fortification, FFI and UNICEF had planned to conduct a mill assessment in April 2020.

Instead, FFI conducted a robust review—from a desk—of Tajikistan’s wheat flour supply chain. Through the review, FFI identified 18 large- and medium- scale wheat flour mills that control nearly 90% of the country’s milling production. An assessment of the readiness of these mills to fortify, as well as a gap analysis, are ongoing.

The review is a critical step to help the Tajikistan Government, FFI, and UNICEF better understand what support wheat flour millers need to comply with the new legislation and to inform a future in-person mill assessment. Though there is no replacement for on-the-ground fieldwork, FFI’s efforts kept progress in motion toward a brighter future.