Through an intervention of by members of the Food and Nutrition Security Community steps were taken to promote consumption of fruits and vegetables to reduce micronutrient deficiencies…
India does not have a problem growing fruits and vegetables, however consumption remains low because of the costs involved and availability issues. A step towards promoting consumption of fruits and vegetables to reduce micronutrient deficiencies was taken with the Mid-Day Meal Programme (MDMP) now providing 50 gm of vegetables per head.
Thus a query was posted in April 2006, requesting experiences on improving the coverage and quality of MDM program to ensure availability and utilization of local, low cost seasonal vegetables in urban and rural areas and suggestions on ways to measure the impact of the MDMP on school enrolment, attendance and retention rates as well as the nutritional status of school children. The purpose was to evaluate MDMP in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools, and suggest how the nutritional quality of meals could be improved.
At the Visioning Workshop in 2006, members discussed the feasibility of improving nutritional content of MDMP and ICDS feeding programs through enhanced local production of horticulture, legumes and animal products. Based on those discussions, two action research projects on improving the supply of vegetables to schools involved with the MDMP were launched- in urban schools and the other in a rural area. Findings from the two action projects were presented during the Annual Forum in August 2007.
| MDMP- urban site in Delhi
(photo courtesy: Urban Nutrition Foundation of India)
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 | MDMP- rural site in Andhra Pradesh
(photo courtesy: Dangoria Charitable Trust) |
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