Kitchen Gardens for nutritional security

This study has been undertaken as an exploratory research to highlight the status of kitchen gardens across four states. Transition in present diets patterns was explored in all the sites and questions on felt utility and acceptance of kitchen gardens was investigated in three states including Gumla District (Jharkhand), Amravati district (Maharashtra) and Dharmapuri district (Tamil Nadu). Kitchen gardens was found to increase the availability of nutrient rich vegetables and other food categories and contribute to a wide range of diverse food items available for home consumption. In return for this, there is a nominal unit of labour power spent by women in growing and nurturing such units. Against the labour given, there is a sum of income earnings saved during the time when produce from the garden is available for home consumption. For homestead land owners, kitchen gardens is a valuable intervention that contributes in helping rural households receive increased opportunities of food sufficiency through use of local resources and also promotes income saving with reduction of expenditure spent on purchase of food items from the market. Thus promoting kitchen garden model across rural expanses will improve the nutrition status for both women and children.