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COMPENDIUM, IEEC-2023   ( ISBN : 978-81-967860-4-5 )
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Theme-3: Bio-diversity and Resource Conservation, Livelihood and Food Security towards Sustainable Agri-food Systems

Sustainable Year-Round Nutri-garden for Food and Nutritional Security in Resource-Poor Eastern Indian Households

Kumari Shubha, Anirban Mukherjee, Ujjwal Kumar, Akram Ahmed, Tanmay Kumar Koley, Sanjeev Kumar, Anup Das

Scientist, Vegetable Science, Division of Crop Research , ICAR- Research Center for Eastern Region, Patna.
shubha.veg@gmail.com

Abstract

Sustainable diets constitute a paramount global challenge in the 21st century. Effecting a transition towards healthier dietary patterns necessitates the simultaneous accessibility and affordability of essential foods, especially for low-income populations. Therefore, for a growing population (especially poor consumers), the best way to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet is to develop nutri-garden model for year round production of nutritional vegetables. Therefore, a model of 100 m2 areas was developed and established at ICAR-RCER, Patna during 2019–22. This model is based on recommendation of ICMR vegetable intake per day. The year round vegetable patterns were divided into three cropping seasons per year including winter (mid-October to mid-March), pre-rainy (mid-March to mid-June) and rainy (mid-June to mid-October). The season-wise production was highest in winter (166.6 kg) followed by monsoon (91.9 kg). The highest yield potential was found in cropping pattern mustard green- radish (leaves+root)- pumpkin (47 kg) followed by broccoli-Yard Long Bean (YLB)-Okra (46.9 kg) and sem-okra-red amaranth (Leaves+ stem) (46.3 kg). However, lowest yield production was observed in Carrot-Water spinach-Water spinach (41.3kg) pattern. Nutrition-wise, highest Vitamin A (1876380 IU) and Vitamin C (20888 mg) was found in Water spinach- Carrot-Bottle gourd and Basella-Cauliflower-YLB cropping pattern respectively. Cropping pattern YLB-Pea- Red Amaranth was reported highest in thiamine (58.55 mg), riboflavin (68.52 mg) and niacin (653.7 mg) content. Similar pattern was also observed in minerals content in YLB-Pea- Red Amaranth cropping pattern reported highest content of calcium (63078 mg), iron (34258 mg) and phosphorous (1180.7 mg) content. The results suggest that a homegarden may give a considerable amount of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of iron (60.70%), calcium (52.29%), 7415g/day (>100%) vitamin A, and 89.91 mg (>100%) vitamin C per day to each family member.

IEEC-2023 at RARI (SKNAU, Jobner), Jaipur, Rajasthan organised by Society of Extension Education, Agra, India