The Kottoor grama panchayat in the district is slowly moving towards self-sufficiency in nutritional food crop cultivation through its Nutritional Garden, an initiative of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK).
The garden is expected to bring about drastic changes in the food habits of many families from Kottoor, an adopted village of KVK, Peruvannamuzhi, according to a statement issued on Tuesday.
A team of officials from KVK, a subsidiary of ICAR-IISR, has completed distribution of vegetable seeds and training programmes for 25 families in the panchayat. The KVK has also included three anganwadis in the panchayat under the scheme with the aim to ensure supply of nutritious food to children, adolescents and pregnant women in the region.
“Nutrition gardens are sustainable models for food security,” said Santhosh J. Eapen, director of ICAR-IISR. “It is an affordable means to ensure healthy food and balanced nutrition in our rural livelihoods,” he added.
The project under the Smart Nutrition Village scheme aims to ensure nutrition for all children. It is a year-long project, through which locally available and indigenous seeds are supplied to families so that they can grow vegetables in their kitchen gardens and ensure uninterrupted supply of vegetables for their household needs.
The KVK officials have completed training programmes for beneficiary families in vegetable cultivation, organic farming, vermicomposting and other agriculture related topics. The project is under way in Muthukadu and Naduvannur grama panchayats also.
As the beneficiary families are offered vermicompost units along with the seeds, they will be able to generate fertilisers for their requirement from the kitchen waste. The KVK is also promoting integrated farming models for residents and many have started rearing poultry and goats along with the cultivation of vegetables.
The KVK will also carry out a survey among the beneficiary families to review whether the nutrition garden is helping them improve their nutrition intake.