Author: Anupama, C., Shwetha B. N., Mallika Meti and Doddabasappa, B.
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India is not only the world’s second largest producer of food, but also has its second largest undernourished population. Malnutrition and food insecurity has been a major concern for India for several decades. Undernutrition leads to long-term effects, including cognitive and growth deficits and reduced immunity to infections. The present study aims at understanding the importance of nutrition garden with an objective of assessing the nutritional security of farm families. Consecutively for two years, the present study was conducted in Mandalagera village, Raichur taluk and Raitanagar Camp village, Sindhanur taluk, Raichur district, Karnataka. In each village, twenty five farm families were selected in each village and three categories were made based on their family size. The total number of participants were 186, among them, 98 were males and 88 were females. Body Mass Index, of the people showed the majority of both males and females, the malnourishment has been seen most common (62.30%).Twenty-one females were found to suffer from iron deficiency causing nutritional anaemia. Few were suffering from scales in skin, mostly due to micronutrient deficiencies. Seventeen people recognized its clinical symptoms. While selecting the farm families, a proper care was taken their willingness to maintain the garden throughout the year. Those families who had sufficient area that can be spared for the study purpose were chosen. All the families were supplied with vegetable seeds, some perennial saplings of fruit crop and some speciality foods. The plan had also covered the medicinal plants in the garden. All the subjects were trained to adopt the growing of crop organically and maintain the garden with environment friendly practices. They were trained to use balanced diet with proper importance of major and micro nutrients. It was suggested based on the recommended dietary allowances (RDA). The study revealed their nutritional quality had increased in all the major nutritional parameters, viz. proteins, dietary fibre, vitamin, A, vitamin C, Iron and Calcium. The nutritional garden helped with the consumption of freshly harvested vegetables in their daily diet, contributing for the increased nutritional status of the families.
Cowpea, yield, Correlation analysis, Vigna unguiculata
For any family nutrition garden in their backyard or available space is important as a handy source of fresh vegetables as well the plants that are useful and have medicinal properties. However, the recent days their significance is seen to be increasing in the context of the efforts to combat the major as well the micro nutrient deficiencies. These deficiencies are generally prevalent in areas where the normal diet of the population has less diversity and particularly in the areas who dependent on a type of staple food such as cereal based diets. Nutrition garden provides easily accessible diversified fresh vegetables with lot of nutritional benefits. In this connection the present study has demonstrated the worth of nutrition garden for the year-round nutrition security. Follow up visits to these two villages showed they have continued maintaining the nutrition garden.
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