Country Profile
Nicaragua
Source: Population figures from the United Nations Population Division.
Grain Production, Imports, Exports, and Availability
| Domestic production | Grain imports | Grain exports | Flour imports | Flour exports | Available in food supply | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat | 339,000 | 8,000 | 10,807 | 4,130 | 41 | |
| Maize | 381,000 | 539,000 | 8,000 | 18,075 | 0 | 159 |
| Rice | 381,497 | 15,584 | 4,704 | 139 |
All figures (except the amount available in food supply for consumption) are expressed in metric tons. Amount of flour or rice available in food supply is expressed in grams/person/day.
Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. For details, see our “How We Get Our Data” page.
Legislation, Milling Industry, and Fortification
| Legislation | Number of industrial mills (>20 metric tons/day) | % Flour/rice produced in industrial mills | % Industrially milled flour/rice that is fortified | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat | Mandatory | 3 | 100 | |
| Maize | Mandatory | |||
| Rice | None |
Industrial wheat and maize flour mill: capacity to mill more than 20 metric tons/day
Industrial rice mill: capacity to mill at least 5 metric tons/hour of paddy rice
Source: FFI database.
Note: Estimates may differ from Global Fortification Data Exchange estimates as FFI assumes imported flour/rice is industrially milled. FFI includes imported flour/rice into the total percentage of flour/rice produced in industrial mills and percentage of industrially milled flour/rice that is fortified.
Nutrients Added Through Fortification
| Minerals | B Vitamins | Vitamin A | Vitamin D | Vitamin E | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calcium | Iron | Type of iron | Selenium | Zinc | B6 | B12 | Folic acid | Niacin | Riboflavin | Thiamin | ||||
| Wheat | 55 | Ferrous Fumarate | 1.8 | 55 | 4.2 | 6.2 | ||||||||
| Maize | ||||||||||||||
| Rice | 24 | Ferric Pyrophosphate | 25 | 4 | 0.01 | 1 | 40 | 5 | ||||||
All nutrient amounts are expressed in parts per million.
Source: FFI database.
Prevalence of Neural Tube Defects, Anemia, and Inadequate Zinc Intake
| Neural tube defects per 10,000 births1 | % Anemia in non-pregnant women of reproductive age2 | % Anemia in pre-school children3 | % Population at risk of inadequate zinc intake4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 12 | 19 | 29.2 |
[1] Source: Hannah Blencowe, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Personal communication. United Kingdom. 2015.
Note: This figure may not include pregnancy loss or terminations of pregnancies due to prenatal diagnosis of a neural tube defect. With all folic acid interventions in place, the birth prevalence of neural tube defects would be about 6 per 10,000.
[2] Source: World Health Organization. The global prevalence of anemia in 2011. Switzerland. 2015.
Note: Anemia can be caused by many things. Fortifying flour and rice can reduce the risk of anemia caused by nutritional deficiencies. The classification of anemia as a public health problem, according to the World Health Organization is:
≤4.9% No public health problem
5.0-19.9% Mild public health problem
20.0-39.9% Moderate public health problem
≥40.0% Severe public health problem
[3] Source: World Health Organization. The global prevalence of anemia in 2011. Switzerland. 2015.
Note: Preschool children are usually defined as ages 6-59 months.
[4] Source: Wessells KR, Brown KH. Estimating the global prevalence of zinc deficiency: results based on zinc availability in national food supplies and the prevalence of stunting. United States of America. 2012.
Note: Zinc is needed for optimal child health and physical growth and normal pregnancy outcomes. If the probability of inadequate zinc intake is greater than 25%, it is considered an elevated public health concern, according to Conclusions of the Joint WHO/UNICEF/IAEA/IZiNCG Interagency Meeting on Zinc Status Indicators.