Kitchen Garden can reduce malnutrition

Hemchandra Saikia

(The writer is a Subject Matter Specialist in Agricultural Economics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat.)

What is a Kitchen Garden?

It is the practice of culti vating different types of vegetables or fruit trees or both in the backyard of every household to meet the daily family requirement of fresh vegetables or also to meet the fruit requirement now and then and hence a great economic relief and nutritional benefit for a very healthy and sound human life. A kitchen garden if planned and executed suitably and scientifically can fulfil the daily family requirement of the vegetable round. The happiness of growing vegetables in the kitchen garden or eating vegetables from our kitchen garden is different. Of course, the very importance of a kitchen garden depends upon one's interest and will to grow or eat vegetables from the own source of cultivation. But one thing is crystal clear that vegetables cultivated in kitchen garden have great economic and nutritional leverage in the life of every member of each household in our human

a society without any geographical barrier and its importance will never be replaced or end.

Importance of kitchen garden in household life

The various benefits of cultivating vegetables in the kitchen garden are –

i. A kitchen garden can supply regular fresh vegetables to every household which is very important from both nutritional and economic perspectives. Moreover, it can help to keep the market price of vegetables at a lower level as the more vegetable cultivation in every household the less will be the purchase of vegetables from the market and vice-versa.

ii. A kitchen garden can very effectively utilize our available unutilized imputed inputs,

resources including human labour and is a very easy and ideal platform for good recreation and physical exercise, and thereby help greatly in obtaining sound health with a peaceful mind

iii. The most important benefit of the kitchen garden is the health and nutritional benefit liberated from the consumption of vegetable crops cultivated in this special area of the household. Because we know health is wealth, and for this, we need proper nutrition in the form of roughages, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, antioxidants etc., and these are easily available in different vegetables cultivated in our kitchen garden. But the most important thing is the consumption of the right quantity of vegetables or fruits along with other recommended amounts of other food items regularly.

iv. Vegetables and fruits that can be cultivated in a kitchen garden are a very important source of vitamins and minerals essential for the proper growth and development of our body. For example, it is reported that out of the ten minimum minerals required for sound health. Calcium, phosphorous and iron are needed in enormous amounts and these are very abundant in vegetables like peas, beans, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, lettuce etc. The deficiency of micronutrients like vitamin –A, B, C, D, E in our human body can be prevented by consumption of different vegetables daily in proper amount help to overcome many disorders or ailments like anaemia, low height for age (stunted growth), low weight for height (wasting), low weight for age (underweight), overweight etc in the human body. It is reported that vegetable consumption is beneficial against night blindness, sore eyes, retarded growth, and beriberi, loss of appetite, unhealthy gums, tooth decay, scurvy disease, and delay in wound healing. vi. According to nutrition experts also regular consumption of vegetables in the right quantity is very helpful against inflammation, decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes, decreases the risk of heart diseases and stroke, lower blood pressure, improve bone and brain health and thus help to improve our immune system against many problematic disease or disorder.

What is malnutrition?

In simple terms, malnutrition means a very big health-related problem which is due to the lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one does eat. Of course the World Health

Organization opines malnutrition as deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person's intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition covers 2 broad groups of conditions. One is 'undernutrition—which includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals). The other is overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer).

Why we should give due importance to malnutrition?

Malnutrition is affecting the very health of all people and hence now a global problem. The WHO revealed that around 1.9 billion adults worldwide are overweight, while 462 million are underweight and as a result, 528 million or 29% of women of reproductive age around the world are affected by anaemia, for which approximately half amenable to iron supplementation.

The UNICEF and WHO estimates of 2020 edition revealed that during 2019 malnutrition affect 21.3 per cent(144.0 million ) children under 5 in the form of stunting, 47 million(6.9 per cent) in the form of wasting and 38 million(5.6 per cent) children under 5 in the form of overweight globally. In India every second child belonging to that age group is affected by some form of malnutrition such as stunting (low height for age) with 35 per cent of the children, wasting (low weight for height) with 17 per cent and 2 per cent overweight. Moreover, the gravity of malnutrition in India is also supported by The Global Nutrition Report 2018 where India topped the list of the most stunted children with 46.6 million children being recorded as having low height for age. Thus these statistics explain how deeply rooted the malnutrition problem is for our mankind particularly for our under-developed and developing countries preventing their healthy growth to perform optimally.

Importance of kitchen garden in reducing malnutrition: A kitchen garden can very well support our people in reducing the gravity of malnutrition in their health to a great extent through the regular supply of these all essential vitamins and minerals available in almost all the vegetables. Moreover, kitchen garden as a weapon against our war of malnutrition is people's friendly, easily affordable, accessible, practical and most beneficial to our physical health, mental health and hence kitchen garden is an economically feasible, affordable, accessible, profitable, useful and socially and environmentally sustainable tool in reducing the level of malnutrition continuously.

How a kitchen garden can be run throughout the year?

A kitchen garden of varied sizes can be operated by every family, be it an urban or rural location. Of course in a rural area, it is easier. In urban areas vegetables can be grown year-round either vertically or on the rooftop or in another artificial growing platform like a tub or other structure. Generally, an open place and sunny area of rectangular shape situated on the northern side of a house with irrigation and drainage facility is an ideal place for the kitchen garden. A kitchen garden should have two blocks- one permanent block of vegetables or fruits on the northern side and the other is a temporary block having many subplots of seasonal vegetable batch after batch and

The preferred location is the southern side of the kitchen garden. In the permanent block crops like banana, citrus, guava, pineapple, brinjal etc can be grown. In the subplots of a temporary block of kitchen garden crops like reddish, carrot, beans, cucurbits, cabbage, cauliflower, knolkhol, beet, turnip, yam, spinach, methi, pea, cowpea, onion, garlic, chilly, coriander etc can be grown months after month according to their growing season. It is also essential to have two composts in the corner of the permanent block of the kitchen garden. Thus with the possible adoption of the scientific method of cultivation in due time and place a successful kitchen garden can be operated by every household in our human society and can ensure a very regular supply of fresh vegetables to its family members and thereby provide our essential vitamins and minerals needed to maintain malnutrition free healthy health. Thus kitchen garden can help in reducing the menace of malnutrition from the society of mankind to a great extent. In this regard to get our much-desired result change of attitude, mentally, mindset and health consciousness about Nutrition, balanced nutrition, and its regular consumption is very essential. And this will require. Massive awareness and sensitization about the importance of eating a balanced diet and growing of vegetables in the kitchen garden and thereafter its consumption to supply all the essential

Vitamins and minerals are needed to eliminate malnutrition from our human health. Hence there is the relevancy of celebrating Rashtriya Pushan Maah by our government of India across different states from 2018 onwards during September as this is the beginning of starting vegetable crop cultivation on a mass scale for the greater benefit of mankind. In this holy process, a different esteemed form of media like print and electronic media can bring about the desired change in finding out an effective solution for malnutrition through a wide range of media coverage and publicity on regular basis. So let's proceed together, cooperate and work together with a true spirit of workmanship and determination to solve the problem of malnutrition from the society of mankind.