Food ration

the amount of maize or wheat that you distribute depend on the basket that you are distributing which should all be contributing to 2100kcal. so if your ration comprises only of cereals then you would need more to reach the 2100kcal than someone else who has other items in the ration which also contribute to the energy leading to a lower amount of cereal.

the idea is to first decide what nutrients you want to include in your ration. then decide the amount of each of the nutrients based on: protein should provide 10-12 % of the energy and fat 17% of energy in the ration (the rest comes from the cereal). you could use the nut val calculator to help you determine what your ration size should be...(adding up to 2100 kcal which is the standard).

cheers

Dear Kasahun,

Anonymous 141 has already addressed your issues correctly. i would like to add few points regarding the ration size. the so called 2100kcal is considered when the intended beneficiaries are completely dependent on food aid, no other food sources. in this case could be refugees or IDP. However, in other setup the ration size could be reduce below 2100kcal when we expect the beneficiaries have some sources from their own.

To generalize my point it is not necessarly to stick with 2100kcal/p/d. Based on the proper need assessment, it can be adjusted interms of energy or micronutrient requirement. For example the recomended monthly ration size in Ethiopia is cereal 15kg, pulses 1.5kg, edible oil 0.5kg and 4.5kg blended food (only for 35% of the total beneficiaris). However, due to shoratge of resources, it is usually below the recomended.