RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: To provide nutritious food to children and pregnant women at Anganwadis in U Kottapalli mandal, the authorities concerned are growing vegetables in ‘nutri gardens’.
The programme was implemented to address the issue of malnutrition among kids and make better of use of vacant lands that belong to the government.In 2016, the State government had launched a similar programme, with the Sarva Siksha Abhiysan (SSA) as its coordinating agency, for schoolkids in the district. Currently, 527 schools come under the purview of the programme that benefits around 4.50 lakh students.
Most of the government schools in East Godavari have open spaces, in addition to playgrounds, it is learnt. According to information made available by the SSA authorities, 16 types of vegetables, leafy and non-leafy, are being grown in the open lands.
Meanwhile, the horticulture department is engaged in training teachers and students in farming in these ‘nutri-gardens’. ICDS staff and Kotapalli mandal APO Rajababu are supervising the works. Vegetables grown are also supplied to local Anganwadi centres.
For each such garden, the government has allotted `16,000 for production of tomato, beans, brinjal, green chillies and others. What makes the programme more important is the fact that no pesticides and other chemicals are used in cultivation.
Rajababu said, “The programme is yielding good results. As such, plans are being made to begin the second phase of cultivation.” Another official concerned said more land would be identified for the ‘nutri garden’ programme.
For better use of vacant lands
The programme was implemented to address the issue of malnutrition among kids and make better of use of vacant lands that belong to the government. Around 4.50 lakh students from 527 schools are benefitting from it. For each ‘nutri garden’, `16,000 was allotted