CHHATTISGARH: In remote rural areas, the challenge is to break the nexus between rural life and malnutrition that affects children most. One such area is the Koriya district, the northwestern region of Chhattisgarh. Anshika, a malnourished girl in Koriya, is about four years old but her body weight is 10.8 kg, which according to doctors should ideally be at least 15 kg. Her parents had no idea how to improve the health of their daughter.
Many like her were suffering from malnutrition. The Koriya district administration stepped in with a simple but atypical solution to distribute two types of plants rich in minerals, vitamins and other sources of nutrients for improving the nutritional status. Kuldeep Sharma, a 2014-batch IAS officer and Koriya collector, thought of using plants as a tool (a supplement diet) to get the nutritional benefit and combat malnourishment among the children. These beneficial plants with good health nutrients can be easily grown with little care.
The first thing that the administration did was to identify such malnourished children. That wasn’t difficult. Officials then gave five plants each to the children’s families —three drumsticks (munga in Hindi) with two papayas that is grown in their backyard. The strategy is to create awareness among rural people about growing such fruit plants and vegetables that are a source of nourishment. Officials are supposed to take the plan to families with six-year-old infants up to the age of six-year-old kids.
Korea is cited as the only district in the country to have experimented with such a novel concept. The experiment will soon travel to all eight tehsils. Each family of an affected child is provided with a unique Suposhan (nutrition) card that carries a separate account, recording the growth of both the child and the plants. The Anganwadi workers distributed the cards during their visit to villages. The health status of the child is measured by his/her weight, height and general appearance. The growth measurement of the child is observed every month and that of the plant after every three months.
The state has witnessed encouraging results from the ongoing Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan launched in 2019 under which nourishing food is given to children at the Anganwadi centre. This has led to a decline in the percentage of malnourished children from 24.52% to less than 10% in Koriya, which has 638 villages, officials said. However, there are still many in need of proper nourishment.
“Our review revealed that since children in our target age group mostly spent their time at home, they should develop a habit of consuming a balanced and nourishing diet. The Suposhan Badi can help provide good sources of nourishment in every house where the malnourished children live,” said collector Sharma. Drumstick and papaya plants have various essential nutrients that help in alleviating malnutrition. The fruits, flowers and leaves of the Munga plant are rich sources of iron, vitamins and minerals. Within six months, one gets papaya fruits from plants. To begin with, the officials selected these two plants for distribution to enrich the diet.
“The plants are named after the members of the family to develop a sort of personal bonding. Plants are nurtured and cared for to boost their growth,” says Sharma.“Suposhan Badi and Suposhan cards are an important link between recipient families and plants,” says Ambika Singhdeo, local MLA and a parliamentary secretary.
“We are happy to see the impact of such plants on the health of our children,” says Chanda Bai, a young mother. We are conveniently getting papaya and munga veggies from our own backyard,” says Mahendra Sahu, a small farmer in Bharatpur tehsil. To achieve the desired goal, officials also emphasize the consumption of traditional food for securing healthy mothers along with their children in tribal areas. Panchayats too are involved in keeping track of the implementation of the plan.