Developing a model village focused on kitchen gardening and nutritional security in Kuruvakurdha village, Raichur, Karnataka, is an initiative to promote sustainable agriculture, improve food security, and enhance the community’s overall well-being. We began with engaging the villagers and local community members by conducting awareness meetings and group discussions to educate them about the benefits of kitchen gardening and the importance of nutritional security based on assessing the village’s existing agricultural practices, available resources, and nutritional requirements. The students and faculty from Food & Nutrition conducted group discussions and an awareness program for the children and women members of the village to understand the issues associated with nutrition. As a continuation, faculty, and village coordinators from Amrita School for Sustainable Futures and the Live-in-Lab team initiated kitchen gardening activities to ensure nutritional security. A set of seeds, including spinach, chilly, tomato, bitter gourd, and ladies’ finger, are distributed among female farmers to initiate kitchen gardening.
Along with nutritional security, this initiative plans to develop a seed bank in the village to expand farming practices on a larger scale. This can facilitate the distribution of high-quality seeds and saplings of nutritious vegetables, fruits, and herbs suitable for the local climatic conditions. This also encourages diverse crop selection to ensure a balanced diet and adequate nutrition. This initiative also promotes organic farming techniques, minimizing chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The awareness session also educated the villagers about natural pest control methods, crop rotation, and the importance of soil health. A set of soil samples is collected to analyze the changes in the soil quality based on the kitchen gardening practices. A What’s App group has started to track the progress of the kitchen gardening initiatives. Promoting kitchen gardening and nutritional security can positively impact the lives of villagers, enhance their food security, and contribute to the community’s overall development.
