Nutri-Gardens: A Way to Manage Malnutrition and Ensure Food Security

Abstract

Aims: This opinion article aims to discuss about the origin of Nutri-garden and different designs of Nutri-garden and its major contributions on eradicating malnutrition/under nutrition and ensuring food security and diet diversity in India. Origin: Nutri-garden is the advanced form of home/kitchen garden and the recent awareness on importance of Nutri-garden /Poshan Vatikas is created by Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. Nutri-Garden Layout and Model: Generally, circular and rectangle designs are followed in Nutri-garden. Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, preferred rectangular shape Nutri-garden when compared to square shape garden. Impacts of Nutri-Garden on Nutritional/Health Disorders: Fruits and vegetable are the important sources of micronutrients needed for disease and disorder free life. Healthier diets can be maintained by consuming fruits and vegetables, the supplementation of macro and micronutrients from fruits and vegetables maintain healthy blood pressure, fiber content in fruits and vegetables reduces blood cholesterol and lowers the risk of heart diseases. Nutri-garden Design, Development and Dissemination: For individual family the Nutri-garden can be designed according to the family members requirements and the availability of land. If the garden designed and developed for particular location by KVKs and Research Institutes can be disseminated through various trainings and rural women and Self Help Groups (SHGs). Nutri-garden for Self-sustainability under Climate Change: Global development practitioners have attempted to capture the diverse coping mechanisms and adaptive tactics used by the farming community. Kitchen gardening is one such strategy that improves farm-family resilience in the face of climate change Conclusion: Nutri-garden is the efficient tool to combat against human malnutrition and health disorders. The low farm yield under climate change can be compensated through increasing number of self sustained Nutri-Gardens. Nutri-Garden shall be maintained also in School campus and public buildings. Nutri-garden ensures the house hold nutritional security and it is the cheapest strategy to maintain human health.