Addressing nutrition - the Pragya way...

Food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition continue to pose a major challenge for development, globally. The Himalayan belt, a particularly remote and backward region, where food production is constrained by the terrain and severe climatic conditions, and the problems are compounded due to weak infrastructure, displays the worst food insecurity and nutritional status, with maximum impacts on women. Pragya is addressing these concerns through three broad strategies: (i) Women’s nutri-gardens and Nutrition Watch: small agricultural initiatives for women to increase family food security and nutritional levels; (ii) Nutrient-dense montane farming: agricultural practices and technologies which address nutrient deficiencies; and (iii) Himalayan agri-production scale-up: agricultural improvements for improving land productivity and crop yields to enhance farm incomes.

In Kinnaur district in the western Himalayas, early detection of high iron deficiency (Hb 7.0) in a women’s group member, by the women’s care and ‘Hunger & Nutrition Watch’ processes, and appropriate and sustained dietary intake via growing of cabbage and spinach crops in Nutri-Gardens helped the woman farmer achieve acceptable Haemoglobin levels (Hb 11.0). Women's groups in Sikkim, Darjeeling as well have shown keen interest in managing their home gardens and poly-houses for year round production.

   

Mountain Agricultural Assistance Service Launch

Pragya organised a national workshop to initiate a multi- stakeholder network: Mountain Agricultural Assistance Service (MAAS). The event held on 7th August, 2014, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India was inaugurated by Dr. Sanjeev Chopra, Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture – Govt. of India and had participation from national, regional and local institutions, government & non-governmental, as well as experts on mountain agriculture.

The workshop was designed to facilitate interaction among the participants to document the existing pool of knowledge and support services and draw out recommendations for functioning of the MAAS network and insights on key action options to address food security of the small farmers. 

The one-day event began with a brief inaugural session that highlighted the relevance of MAAS network in the current Himalayan context, which was followed by multi-stakeholder deliberations for two sessions: Working session 1: Pathways for Alliance and Working session2: Specific Interventions for Mountain Agriculture.

The process looked at the issues plaguing the mountain agriculture and posing threat to food security of the small farmers in the region and facilitated cross stakeholder understanding of the issues. The participative process also brought out recommendations for the network functions that are expected to be far closer to the stakeholder needs and area specific requirements.

The post-lunch session saw presentations by technical experts from NCPAH-Ministry of Agriculture, IMD Agro-met Division and SASE on existing support services and potential contributions towards Mountain Agricultural Assistance Service. The event concluded with sharing of results of the deliberations and summarization of the key priorities.

Photographs from the event