Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Approach

• Awareness education/ training to Men & Women

• Training programme on Family nutrition/ Nutritional Disorders, Fruits and Vegetable processing

• Establishing Structured / Unstructured Home Gardens

• Cooking Demonstrations• Children Nutrition Clubs

- Participatory Rural Appraisal

- Focus Group Discussions

- Study on local food habits, Local food intake

- Anemic mothers, women and girl children focus

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

HOME GARDENS –Horticultural Remedy for Nutritional Malady

WHY?

- Limited food diversity- Limited knowledge on nutrition/

Health/ Sanitation- Limited accessibility- Barriers in decision making- Limited ability to purchase

Vegetables

CONTEXT:

Under nutrition, anemia and protein deficiency is prevalent among the men, women and children of Kolli hills, Tamil Nadu

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Establishing Home Gardens- Process

Community Briefing/ Zone wise Household Meetings

Appropriate field identification and location

Layout planning and designing with individual HH

Family members Nutritional status observation before HG

Participatory selection of crops/ crop calendar setting

Implementation and periodical monitoring

Maintenance of Harvesting and Consumption records

Mainstream Vegetables : Tomato, Brinjal, Okra, Onion

Greens : Amaranthus (Red/green), Basella, Spinach, Chekurmanis, Vallarai, Pulichakeerai, coriander and mint

Roots & tubers : Radish, carrots, Beet roots, Orange flesh sweet potato,colocasia

Cole crops : Cabbage, Cauliflower,MustardLegumes :Dolichos, clusterbeans, peas, native

black and red kidney beans, cowpea, spring beans

Guards : Pumpkin, Ridge, bitter, bottle and ash guards

Fruits/ perennials : Papaya, Guava, Jack, Mango, Moringa, Curry leaves

Vegetables and Fruits of Kitchen Garden

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Structured Garden Unstructured GardenHome (Nutrition) Gardens

2m2 or 3 m2 plots with raised beds, furrows/ ridges

vegetable plots of different size, grown in cloth bags, pots etc

Have diversity- vegetables, native greens, root crops, guards, legumes and Fruit trees, all in one place.

Limited diversity – either greens and guards or legumes and greens or fruit trees and greens located in different places

Crop calendar practiced; vegetables grown both in Rabi and Kharif.

Vegetables grown only in one season – Kharif/ early Rabi.

Easy to access for cooking Often grown in cropped areas as inter cropPeriodic harvest, consumption and processed records of veg. monitored.

Consumption information alone could be recorded.

Plot No.

Crop Period

1 Tomato Radish Cowpea/ Beans Okra

Jan – Mar Apr – May Jun – Sep Oct – Dec

2 OkraRadish Chilies Onion Cabbage/ Beet

Jan- Apr May – Jun Jun – Oct Jun – Oct ( intercrop) Nov – Jan

3 Greens Tomato Onion Beetroot/ Radish

Dec – Feb Mar – Jun Jul – Sep Oct – Nov

4 Cluster beans Greens Brinjal

Jan – Apr Apr – May Jun – Dec

5 Dolichos/ Fr.Bean Onion Tomato Greens

Dec – Jan Feb – May May – Aug Sep – Nov

6 OkraBrinjal Cauliflower/ Beans

Feb – May Jun – Oct Oct – Jan

7 Cluster bean OkraTomato

Apr – Aug Dec – Jan Aug – Nov

8 Cabbage/ Beans Radish Tomato Chillies

Dec – Feb Mar – Apr Nov – Feb May – Nov

HOME GARDEN - LAYOUT

Compost Pits Fruit trees

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

CROP CALENDERGourds not included – supplement

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Home Gardens of Tribal Families1 cent Model 2 cents model

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Promotion of Orange Flesh Sweet potato

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Papaya – Red Lady Guava- Lucknow 49 Moringa – PKM-1

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Role

Activity Male Female Both

Field Preparation √

Fencing √

Beds/ pandal formation √ √

Selection of veg.var √

Seed sowing √

Nursery raising √

Watering/ care √

Plant protection √

Cropping calendar √

Harvesting √

Record keeping √

consumption √

Sharing with neighbors √

Gender Role in Kitchen Garden Management and use

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

Constraints in Managing Home Gardens

•Problems with Hens, domestic animals damaging seed beds, nursery and seedlings

•Fetching water during summer is challenging for women, minimum requirement of 30 lt/ day/cent

•Poor knowledge on : nutrition, nutrition values of local / wild fruits, vegetables and root crops, food taboos, post harvest processing, water conservation methods, organic pest/ disease control measures

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots

How the project has handled

Hen and domestic animal’s disturbance

Fetching water and irrigating plants during summer

(Jan – may)

Knowledge on Home garden/ Pest Management

Green shade net was provided for fencing after Focus Group Discussion with women.

Stored water made available to plants by drip method, easy water carrying devices, promotion of Mulching, promoting low water loving plants/ Gourds in summer.

Awareness programs, school children club, Training and demonstration on Good Home garden management, organic plant protection measures and healthy diet