Country is moving towards achieving the goal of Poshan Suraksha, says agri minister

NEW DELHI, 19 September 2020: A training programme for Capacity Development of Anganwadi Workers & Farm Women to achieve the national nutrition goals was organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on 17 September 2020, as part of the 3rd Rashtriya Poshan Maah being celebrated in the month of September throughout the country.

Around one lakh Poshan kits were also distributed among Anganwadi workers by Krishi Vigyan Kendras all over the country on the occasion of PM’s birthday on 17 September 2020.

Addressing the women farmer training programme, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said that to achieve the goal of sustainable development, it is necessary to eradicate malnutrition, and to achieve this ICAR is taking innovative initiatives like Poshan Smart Gram and distribution of Poshan kits through more than 700 Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country.

He said after ensuring food security to its citizens, country is moving towards achieving the nutrition security goal.

Tomar said that all children and mothers should have access to nutritious food and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, ICAR, IFFCO and other organizations are continuously working in this direction.

He said that since ancient times, there has been a tradition in our country that families maintain kitchen gardens and but with increasing materialism, the tradition of growing fruits and vegetables in our houses and courtyards has been forgotten.

The Minister appreciated that the Ministry of Women and Child Development is making efforts to ensure availability of nutritious food in Anganwadis by motivating them to  plant in their kitchen/courtyard gardens.

Tomar said that the basic aim behind the concepts of  PoshanVatika and PoshanThaali is to make sure that the poor families have easy access to nutritious meals.

Tomar expressed his happiness that all KVKs are taking part in the celebration of Poshan Maah with full commitment. To spread nutrition awareness among mothers, many small meetings are being regularly organised by lady workers and IFFCO with its pledge to join this campaign is providing resources to these workers.

Tomar further added that under the supervision of 11 Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes, 307 Poshan Smart Gram and 8,246 Poshan Vatikas have been established by KVKs. Technical evaluation related to nutrition has been done by 130 KVKs on 252 activities, benefiting 2,116 beneficiaries.

He said 4,505 technical demonstration activities related to nutrition have been carried out benefitting 50,894 people. Among these technical demonstrations are 2,744 exhibitions on the PoshanVatika, 1,149 exhibitions are on value addition and 390 demonstrations on other nutrition related enterprises. These demonstration activities are proving beneficial in eliminating malnutrition in rural areas.

On the occasion of PM’s birthday, one lakh Poshan Kits were distributed among Anganwadi workers by KVKs across the country. These kits include different types of seeds, plants, planting material and awareness literature. With the help of these kits, a nutritious diet will be evolved by developing kitchen gardens in Anganwadi Centres.

Tomar said that this is a combined social effort to eliminate malnutrition from our country.

On this occasion, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Kailash Chaudhary, Director General of ICAR, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra and Deputy Director General A.K.Singh, IFFCO chairman, U.S. Awasthi, Officers and Employees and teams from all KVKs and Anganwadi Workers were present.