Punjabis now focus so much on wheat and paddy that they have neglected other crops such as pulses, vegetables, oil seeds and maize. The reduced production has led to a fall in their per capita consumption. Farmers can draw economic and health benefits if they take to nutritional gardens.
PUNJAB Agricul
tural University
initiated efforts to popularise nutrition gardens in 2005. Now with the recognition of this model at the Central Government level in the form of Nutri Farms, a budget of Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for its popularisation (The Tribune, March 2, 2013). In Punjab 38 per cent women, 14 per cent men and 66 per cent children (below five) are anaemic, says a report by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai.
According to the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad (NIN 2010), an adult person should consume 60 gms of pulses, 100 gms of green vegetables, 200 gms of roots & tubers, 200 gms of other vegetables and 100 gms of fruits to lead a healthy life.
But it was found that particularly in rural areas an adult person consumes only 30 gms of pulses, 80 gms green vegetables, 100 gms other vegetables, while consumption of fruits is negligible. The skewed consumption pattern is attributed to two main reasons: the low cultivation of pulses, vegetables and fruits by farming families and the low purchasing power of common people.
A model of a nutrition garden designed on three kanals of land -- where two kanals are meant for pulses and one kanal is for fruits & vegetables -- may act as a catalyst to solve the problems of nutritional deficiency of the rural population.
From an economic point of view, an average farming family having seven members -- aged parents (2), husband-wife (2), children (2) and a labourer -- needs 420 gms pulses, 700 gms green leafy vegetables, 1,400 gms roots & tubers and the same amount of other vegetables, and 700 gms fruits. The annual food requirement and expenditure of this family is shown in the table given below:
To meet the annual food requirements, the family has to spend Rs 46,860. While calculating the gross income from the existing cropping pattern, from three kanals of land, it was found that paddy produced from this land gives an income of Rs.6, 200 approximately, whereas wheat worth Rs. 9,000 can be produced on this piece of land in the rabi season.
So in all an income worth Rs.15,200 is obtained from three kanals of land. On the other hand, Rs.46,860 has to be spent on the purchase of pulses, vegetables and fruits to provide a healthy life to family members.
If a farming family produces these food items at its own fields, it can save Rs.31,660 annually, besides improving the health status of its members. In the long run the saving of expenditure on medicines and health supplements will be an added advantage.
The adoption of a nutrition garden contributes to the diversification of crops also. Crop diversification is the on the top of the agenda of the Centre as well as the state government. The Central Government has allocated Rs.500 crore for crop diversification (The Tribune, March 2, 2013).
Punjab has 10,58,000 farming families in all. If every farming family produces pulses, fruits and vegetables at its own fields, three kanals of each family’s land will be withdrawn from the cropping pattern of paddy and wheat. As a result, a total of 1,58,700 hectares of land comes under the cultivation of pulses, vegetables and fruits.
Besides, achieving nutritional self-sufficiency of farming families, the adoption of this model can give an impetus to the diversification of crops also and thereby preserving precious soil and water resources.
Experts suggest that the shifting of at least one million hectare from paddy to other crops is necessary to save the depleting underground water. The adoption of nutrition farms by farming families can achieve about 16 per cent target without any impediment of market forces.
Agricultural experts recommend one kanal land to meet the vegetable and fruits requirements of a seven-member family. One kanal of land properly planned can produce five kilograms vegetables daily. The following tips can help produce vegetables and fruits around the year:
The vegetables growing area or plot should be near the tubewell and fenced with a wire Twenty plots, each measuring 24 square metre area, may be developed leaving the rest of the area for passage and water channels Short-root vegetables like onion, garlic etc. should be followed by deep-root vegetables like brinjal, chillies etc. Keep more area under radish, carrot, cucumber, cabbage, turnip etc. because these vegetables can be used for salad also. Climbers like bitter gourd, gourd etc. should be planted near a tree or a wire so that they can climb over them For proper sunlight to the nutritional garden sow small plants in the southern side and full/long plants in the northern side.
Evergreen vegetables should be sown in one corner so that the rest of the area can be easily prepared for different seasons Vegetables which can be harvested at the same time can be sown together so that early and late sowing varieties can be used to get maximum production.
Spinach, mint, coriander, methi, carrot, raddish etc. should be sown fortnightly. Some medicinal plants like tulsi, pudina (mint), aloe vera should also be planted.
Fruit trees like papaya, lemon, guava, kinnow pear etc. should be planted around the plot in such a way that they do not block sunlight. In the rabi season peas, gram and masar can be produced from two kanals of land and in the kharif season, green gram (moongi), soybean, black gram (mah) etc. can be produced from the same area in the rabi season.
If vegetables, fruits and pulses produced at the farm are in abundance, these can be processed in the form of pickles, jams, squashes, preserves, sauces, besan (gram powder), varrian, pappad, etc.
The adoption of nutrition gardens, advocated by experts of Punjab Agricultural University, may combat nutritional deficiencies of the rural population particularly. The university has focussed its efforts in this direction by selecting this as the Kisan Mela theme “Ghar di sabazi-dal ugao, sehat banao, paise bachao”. It is hoped that as in the case of ushering in the Green Revolution, the dynamic farmers of Punjab will repeat the history by adopting nutrition gardens to improve their health, income and bring about crop diversification.
The writer is the Professor & Head, Department of Home Science Extension & Communication Management, PAU, Ludhiana |
