On the occasion of World Food Day, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) launched a ‘genetic garden of biofortified crops’ on its campus on Monday.
The aim of setting up the garden is to provide planting material and awareness of plants based on their nutritive property such as Vitamin A-rich plants and iron-rich plants.
V. Saroja, Minister for Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal Programme, presided over the event and spoke about the many efforts taken by the State to end malnutrition, especially in children. She further expressed the need to include millets in the Public Distribution System (PDS) to address the issue.
Speaking at the event, M.S. Swaminathan, founder, MSSRF, pointed out that the country still had a lot of progress to make to end undernutrition and suggested a five-point plan with effective implementation of the Food Security Act to overcome it. He pointed out that providing adequate pulses, setting up a grid of genetic gardens of biofortified crops, attending to non-food factors like water and sanitation and organising community hunger fighters for nutrition delivery can help tackle malnutrition. “We are a country of green mountains and hungry millions, there should be food for everyone,” he said.
Job Zachariah, chief of Unicef Office for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, spoke about the need for inter-sectoral convergence to raise awareness and achieve nutrition goals.
Also present at the event was G.S. Toteja, Senior Deputy Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research. He highlighted the progress India had made in the field of nutrition in the past several years.
