Webinar on Scaling Up Nutri Gardens for Nutrition
Nutri-gardens
Nutri-gardens or ‘Poshan Vatikas’ provide easy and affordable access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants, and herbs as well as animal sources of foods.
Nutri- gardens are a way to complement on-farm production year-round, expand access to diverse foods for household consumption, and impact diet quality through income generation, which, when paired with nutrition behavior change communication can increase market purchasing of nutrient-dense foods.
In this context, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), through Saksham Anganwadi and Mission Poshan 2.0, has emphasized the establishment and scaling up of Nutri gardens (Poshan Vatikas) across the country. Poshan Vatikas have been set up by 437,000 Anganwadi Centers (AWCs) pan-India, as of September 2022.
Anuvaad’s Learning Network on Nutri Gardens
Anuvaad Solutions has initiated a “Learning Network on Nutri-gardens”, aimed at providing a convening platform for lateral sharing of knowledge on nutri gardens between different development partners and academia, which can then be used for improved understanding and uptake of evidence around nutri gardens by decision-makers to inform nutrition.
About the webinar: Scaling up Nutri-gardens for Nutrition’ on 15th November 2022.
Anuvaad Solutions hosted a webinar on ‘Scaling up Nutri-gardens for Nutrition’ on 15th November 2022.
The webinar’s objective was to introduce the audience to the concept of Nutri-gardens and their impact on nutritional outcomes as well as provide information about various nutri-garden programs in India, including challenges and opportunities in their scale-up. Experts and practitioners from Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Maharashtra shared their experiences and achievements in scaling up nutri-gardens.
As part of the knowledge translation efforts of Anuvaad, a Report on Poshan Vatika was also shared during the webinar.
The opening remarks were delivered by Dr. Ananya Awasthi, Founder and Director, Anuvaad Solutions. Dr. Awasthi shared the programme outline and highlighted Ministry of Women and Child Development’s Poshan Vatika program and their efforts towards setting up of nutri gardens at the anganwadi centres.
Prof. Lindsay Jaacks, Personal Chair Global Health and Nutrition, University of Edinburgh then shared a report on Poshan Vatikas.
Sri T. Vijay Kumar, IAS (Retired) Ex-Officio Special Chief Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh for Agriculture & Cooperation and Executive Vice Chairman at Rythu Sadhikara Samstha shared the findings from the Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming nutri villages program.
Ms. Mansi Nimbhal, IAS, Chief Executive Officer of the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) shared insights from the Odisha model of nutri gardens.
Mr. I.N. Jha, Managing Director, Institute of Environment and Eco-Development (IEED), Patna, Bihar discussed the experiences with scaling up Nutri Gardens in household backyards and in institutions in Chhattisgarh
Dr. Kalpana Sriraman, Research Officer at Foundation for Medical Research shared the Foundation’s learnings from scaling up Nutri Gardens in Melghat, a tribal district of Maharashtra.
Prof. Lindsay Jaacks moderated the interactive panel with participation from Sri T. Vijay Kumar; Mr. I.N. Jha, Managing Director, Institute of Environment and Eco Development (IEED), Patna, Bihar; Ex-State Consultant, POSHAN Abhiyan, UNICEF, Chhattisgarh; Dr. Kalpana Sriraman, Foundation for Medical Research and Ms. Mansi Nimbhal.
The discussion was followed by a Live Question and Answer session.
Key takeaways for scaling up nutri gardens
Successful scaling up of nutri gardens require:
- Continuous engagement with community cadres (eg, Kisan Mitras, Nutrition Fellows) on establishment of nutri gardens and importance of nutritional awareness.
- Women-led platforms like Self Help Groups (SHGs) at the core of the activity.
- Effective partnerships and interdepartmental convergence with localised planning for implementation.
- Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) around building community health and nutrition-based skills and knowledge were critical for overall success.
Access the full webinar recording here – Click here
Access to decks presented by the panelists
- Mo Upakari Bagicha
- Impact of Nutri Villages Program in Andra Pradesh
- Perennial Kitchen Garden Model in Melghat
- Scaling Up Nutri garden for Nutrition
Additionally, below are some other important resources on Nutri-Gardens:
- WorldVeg has developed a Home Garden Toolbox, with a range of guides on diverse vegetables, how to set up a garden, and how to facilitate these activities and conversations around nutrition. Click here to know more: https://toolbox.avrdc.org/.
- The Sahayak Trust (TST), Mumbai has been working on the concept of Nutri-gardens since 2010 and uses it as a tool to address nutritional anaemia. They have created a platform called ‘Anaemia Free India Forum’ (AFIF). TST provides training and knowledge support to over 450 organizations across 10 states. Please use this link for more information on the TST https://www.sahayaktrust.org/ and headoffice@sahayaktrust.com
- To view the Melghat Kitchen Garden Project, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SqF5VLR8AZVf4B6y-bWlPbbOONUG9QcS/view?usp=share_link
Join our Learning Network on Nutri-gardens by signing up here and reach out to us at awasthi@anuvaad.org.in if you would like us to feature your work.
