Case4-July-2017
Fruits and vegetables do not fight disease; it is their absence that causes disease.
Vegetables and Its Health Benefits Vegetables stand as the cornerstone of a healthy diet. They supply nearly all of the vitamins and minerals required for good health. Vegetable contains fibre and a few of them, such as legumes, are great a source of plant protein. Vegetables have little or no fat, no cholesterol and are low in calories. Vegetables are nutrient dense. They have a few calories yet contain, high level of nutrients and minerals.
Raw vegetables are the best source of vegetable nutrients; however, cooked vegetables contain some of their original nutrition properties. Raw vegetables are most often consumed as salads or alone. With the increase in health awareness, improvement in the various electronic appliances, vegetable consumption in other forms is becoming more common. Due to their high nutrition content and their low levels of natural sugars, vegetables are often the main ingredients in fresh juices and green smoothies. Drinking raw fresh-pressed juice is not only a great source of nutrition, but has been used as a protocol to heal various illnesses.
For people to stay healthy it is very important to have a healthy diet. A healthy diet means a balanced mix of rice, pulses, vegetables, greens, fruit, etc. Vegetables play an important role in meeting the energy needs and thus protects against diseases. Vegetables are especially important for the young, and for the pregnant and nursing women. Inadequate diet during child growth and adolescence can lead to impediments in physical and mental development with lifelong consequences.
When it comes to women health, there are many ways in which balanced food intake contributes to the well-being of a woman. The common health problem that pregnant and lactating women and children suffer from is anaemia or lack of blood and malnutrition. It is found that more than 50% of the pregnant women suffer from anaemia in the developing world. It is also found that anaemia is more prevalent in pregnant women than in normal women. This is mainly due to non-availability of essential micronutrients required to be healthy.
Eating vegetables provides rich health benefits – people who eat more vegetables and fruits are likely to have a reduced risk of chronic diseases. Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of the human body metabolism. Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce the risk of heart disease, including heart attack and stroke, certain types of cancers, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes. Eating vegetables and fruits rich in potassium may lower blood pressure, and may also reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and help to decrease bone loss. Eating vegetables that are lower in calories, instead of highercalorie food may be useful in lowering calorie intake.
One of the easiest ways of ensuring access to adequate macro and micronutrients is to produce and consume different kinds of vegetables from the garden. Kitchen gardening is the easiest way of growing desirable fruits and vegetables on our own piece of land. It can be grown in the empty space available in the backyard of the house or a group of women can come together, identify a commonplace or land and grow the desired vegetables, fruits, etc. This can benefit the women and community as a whole. Home-grown vegetables are organic, low cost and could be totally free from chemicals and pesticides. Kitchen garden is sometimes called backyard or home garden. These gardens have an established tradition and great potential for improving household food security and alleviating micronutrient deficiencies. Most importantly, it gives direct access to diverse nutritionally rich vegetables. It also increases the purchasing power through savings on food bills.
This is especially important in rural areas where people have limited income-earning opportunities and poor access to markets. Gardens are also becoming an increasingly important source of vegetable supplies and an additional income resource for poor households in peri-urban and urban areas.
In Tumkur region, there are six locations devoted to nutritional security measures. As part of the focus of this year on nutrition security in our region, we have facilitated the kitchen garden programme in all the federations. This is done to ensure nutritional security for the member families apart from promoting health initiatives such as sanitation, personal hygiene, and safe drinking water. In this process, we have disbursed Palak, Amaranth, spinach and Radish, other vegetable seeds from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Hirehalli and Kalanjium Thozhilagam Limited (KTL) for around 700 beneficiaries. Apart from this, as a pilot initiative in collaboration with KVK, we disbursed 250 seeds kit, which contains organic fertilisers and pesticide free of cost. Each packet contains 10 types of seeds.
The concept is promoted to ensure nutritious food to the member family. Before the distribution of the seeds, we organised a programme with KVK scientists. In that event, subject matter specialists attended and educated the members about the essential nutrition contained in those garden vegetables. We also intend to conduct a sample study of families to analyze the impact created through this kitchen garden programme.
Enhance community nutrition and livelihood security by means of building capacity of SHG members to sustainably manage farm-based resources.
The Nutrition Seed Pocket contains Amaranth, Spinach, Radish, Pumpkin, Ridge gourd, Tomato, Chilli, Ladies finger, Onion, French beans and Cowpea.
| S.No | Particulars | No. of seeds packets received | Purchase amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KVK | 250 | Free for Project by ZP |
| 2 | KVK | 500 | Rs. 12 per pocket |
| 3 | KTL | 20 Kg Radish | Rs. 5,000 |
Promotion of kitchen garden is one of the best ways to ensure nutrition security for the Below Poverty Line (PPL) population. Our initiative has created a greater impact on achieving nutrition security among the BPL population with a small investment. These kitchen gardens have obtained very high returns (25 times) in terms of monetary value. It has also resulted in generating additional income to the beneficiaries with least expenditure. The kitchen gardens have actually increased fresh vegetable consumption among the participant family members. It has also facilitated balanced nutrition intake from their own garden. We have plans to increase the number of beneficiaries so that this pilot initiative gets widened to all the potential members in our Kalanjiam system.
Ensuring nutrition security for BPL population could well be done through promotion of kitchen gardens.
It will create a greater impact on achieving nutrition security with smaller investment. The kitchen garden activities could also yield very good income to the beneficiaries. Consumption of fresh vegetables from their own garden will result in healthy living conditions through the intake of balanced nutrition. In our region, we realised the larger impact of these activities and we plan to increase the number of beneficiaries and reach the total potential members in our Kalanjiam groups.
DHAN Foundation would like to thank KVK for supplying kitchen garden seed packets and the time spent by the scientists in educating our staff as well as beneficiaries. The technical assistance provided by the KVK scientists has helped our members in cultivating the seeds and getting a better yield. We particularly thank all the cluster associates and staff for the support and good working relationship as we continue to spread the message of kitchen gardening. It is anticipated that the training for gardeners in the region will continue (members) in future, which requires more support from KVK, Hirehalli. Once again, we thank KVK for its immersive support. We also look forward to communityrelated projects that can reach the real beneficiaries of our institution.