Nutri Garden: Keep women of Uttarakhand healthy and strong

Nutri Garden: The mountainous region of Uttarakhand is full of natural beauty, but it could be more suitable for agriculture. Due to the difficult conditions here and the farmers’ traditional farming, a big problem has arisen for the women. 

Even today, farmers in hilly areas are dependent on the cultivation of only grain crops, and that too by using old methods, which barely survive the family for 3-4 months. After this, the men of the family go to the plains in search of work, but the women remain in the village, and due to low income, they cannot eat nutritious food. There needs to be more diversity in agriculture, which fulfills their nutritional needs. According to data from the National Family Health Survey in 2015-16, 43 percent of women in the area were malnourished, a serious problem. Nutri Garden concept was started to overcome this problem and provide nutritional security to them.

What is Nutri Garden?

The solution to the problem of malnutrition in the hilly areas of Uttarakhand was to meet their needs at the local level. To fulfill this objective, the Nutri Garden concept was started. Uttarakhand’s climate is suitable for producing seasonal and off-season fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are good sources of micronutrients. Under the Nutri Garden concept, women of the Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi districts were motivated to grow fruits and vegetables in their backyard and were given technical information. Fresh vegetables from a well-planned Nutri Garden are rich in nutrients. Fruits and vegetables are good sources of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and carbohydrates essential for nourishing the body. In this way, ICAR helped the hill women by promoting the cultivation of vegetables and fruits and providing necessary assistance.

Perfect Information Dissemination 

Under the Nutri Garden concept, an area of 100-200 square meters behind the house was selected for demonstration and all necessary inputs were provided by the institute. Various vegetable seed kits, fruit plants and scientific information about them were given. Apart from this, information about making nursery, making poly tunnel and vermicompost etc. we also provided. Everyone was also informed about mushroom production and increasing pollination in vegetables and setting up bee box for honey production.

Empowerment with Health 

In the beginning only 20 women showed interest in it, but then gradually 80 women made Nutri Garden and the benefit of this was that not only their health started improving, but also they could earn some money by selling extra vegetables and fruits in the market. Due to which she started becoming financially prosperous. The Nutri Garden helped in rotation of crops like rice, wheat and millet besides providing livelihood to the women farmers of the hilly area. 

Also Read: Jute Farming: Why India is the largest Jute Producer?

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