“Organic food for maternal & infant health in hill tribal of Vidarbha ”

FINAL REPORT of the project May 2012

by Dr. Utkarsh Ghate

The Covenant Centre for Development (CCD) Durg N. India office, 2/25, STR complex, Padmanabhpur, Durg city, Chattisgarh state, India PIN 491001, Ph. 91-788-2210162, Telfax. (pp.) 4017684 Email:- [email protected] . Mob.- 9424102440.

A project supported by the Global Green Grants Fund (GGF) http://www.greengrants.org/

1 Organic food for maternal & infant health in hill tribal of Vidarbha

The Covenant Centre for Development(CCD), N. India office, 2/25, STR complex, Padmanabhpur, Durg city, Chattisgarh state, India PIN 491001, Ph. 91-788-2210162, Telfax. (pp.) 4017684 Email:- [email protected] . Mob.- 9424102440.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Kitchen garden, organic cultivation methods & nutrition aspects were taught to 50 families in 3 villages of Salbardi village council in Morshi block of Amravati district of Maharashtra during 2011-12 with Global Greengrants Fund support. For, malnutrition was the chief cause for high disease profile here. It was caused by poverty due to unviable farming. Hence, water harvesting & above agri-techniques were taught. Impressed by the results, Agriculture Dept., Govt. of Maharashtra state assigned CCD the work to upscale such work 100 times under Convergence in Agriculture in Maharashtra (CAIM, http://caim.gov.in ) for relief to farmers’ suicide hit 6 districts of Vidarbha, where CCD is engaged as partner in Amaravati cluster to benefit up to 5,000 families.

BACKGROUND: Rising women anemia, infant mortality & maternal mortality in tribal belt of central India is a burning issue. This results from food scarcity, hunger & malnutrition. It is caused by prohibition on hunting & meat of wild animals, a source of protein. Besides, lack of farming knowledge & culture in tribal is a constraint. Many tribal families got land under forest rights act, 2005 but cannot farm profitably. Chemical fertilizers & pesticides are unused in such forest margins. But the tribal lack ability to certify farm products as “organic” & sell it profitably to citizens. Lastly tribal lack or lost the tradition & ability of kitchen vegetable garden. Leafy vegetable, water melon, beetroot, sweet potato etc. provide iron & reduce anemia risk. These must be promoted for home consumption.

Cotton farmer’s suicide in Vidarbha has attracted much attention & donor support. But it is confined to government & big NGO’s small NGO’s thus find it hard to get fund now government funds are also often corrupted. Animal husbandry (goat & poultry) can ensure food security & income to even landless families but they lack capital.

CCD started promotion of organic farming for local & urban marketing in 2008. It is recognized by Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certificates to 3 groups of 45 farmers in 2010. There is much more need & scope for it. CCD also helped farmers to setup a mini dhal mill & pulveriser with Sir Dorabaji Tata Trust funding to process pulses & chilly, turmeric powder for profitable marketing & income rise.

GOAL : To promote organic food product marketing & Kitchen vegetable garden for health & nutrition of maternal & infant in tribal belt of central India.

2 OBJECTIVES - 1) Train 100 tribal/ backward families in Morshi block of Maharashtra in 5 villages to grow kitchen vegetable garden for women & child health-nutrition. 2) Train about 100 farmers in 6-8 groups in organic farming methods (PGS). 3) To supply of iron rich foods viz. Chana (Horse gram), Bajra (Pearl millet) for maternal & child by health by local value addition (flouring). 4) Promote animal husbandry (goat, hens) of local breeds to ensure food security of even landless families, about 25.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED:

1) We trained about 50 backward community women esp. pregnant ones in 3 villages in Salbardi panchayat (Salbardi, Ambhola & Ladki Budruk) in Morshi block of Amravati district to grow nutritious vegetables in Kitchen garden on waste water to ensure food security & reduce malnutrition. Annexure 1 provides nutrition health correlation information.

2) We also trained them to adopt Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) recognition of organic farming of food crops, with local seed bank of climber vegetables like Milk Gourd, Snake Gourd, Cucumber & Pumpkin etc. Water harvest & conservation techniques were also taught to them to grow these.

3) We supported Ujjwal farmer group at Wagholi village at Lehgao to expand its dhal & spice mill work.

4) We provided Bajra (pearl millet) & chana (horse gram) as nutritious food for maternal & infant health & nutrition, but its long term provision needs Govt. support, such as that by the Tribal Welfare dept. as shown in the picture below.

5) We could not promote goat in the given budget but hen rearing of local breeds was attempted, that did not prove economically viable. We trained 25 families in its poultry rearing methods for organic farm input & food security. They did contact some diseases & faced 50% mortality especially in the summer. Hence, regular veterinary physician visit & medicine are a must, is the lesson learnt here.

6) We informed policymakers & media to include such program in Public Distribution Systems (PDS), midday meal & agriculture dept. schemes. In return, we applied for & won the bid for Convergence in Agriculture in Maharashtra (CAIM, http://caim.gov.in ) for relief to farmers’ suicide hit 6 districts of Vidarbha, where CCD is engaged as partner in Amaravati cluster to benefit up to 5,000 families (Annex 2). This shows the manifold upscaling of GGF project.

3 EXPENSE STATEMENT

Receipt- Rs. 220,000/-

HEADING Rs. Staff 118360 Travel 48440 Program 36673 Admin. 16140 TOTAL 219613

Rs. Two hundred nineteen thousand six hundred thirteen. Rest are bank charges.

Poultry for protein, nutrition

Nutritious food packs for Children- Govt. program

4 Annexure 1- NUTRITION & HEALTH CORRELATES

The main problem here is the hunger & malnutrition. For, the people here consume inadequate fat, protein & vitamins. This results in the deficiency below that can be reduced by growing & consuming the vegetable/spice plants as below –

NUTRIENT Food Sources Diseases caused Milk, meat, oilseeds, Fat Grains Low BMI- @18

Protein Pulses, meat, milk Diarrhoea, Immunity,

Vitamins Chilly, Coriander, fish, A meat, milk Eye, skin disorders Leafy vegetables, Legumes, flax, Milk, fish, B meat, eggs Anaemia, Arthritis, Diarrhoea, Chilly, Coriander, Lemon, C Drumstick Muscle pain, Immunity, Iron intake

D Fish, egg, mushroom, heart, Weak Bones Chilly, Leafy vegetable, Milk, meat, fish, nuts, Whole grains/ Wheat, E oilseeds Low Weight Infants

REFERENCES

GoI. Mother & child nutrition portal. http://www.poshan.nic.in/jspui/index.html

NRHM, 2006. National Rural Health Mission- Maharashtra profile. http://nrhm.gov.in/nrhm-in-state/state-wise-information/maharashtra.html

Pinson, Richard, 2011. Body Mass Index and malnutrition: Interrelated co-morbidities. http://www.hcpro.com/content/271737.pdf .

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