‘Proper nutrition is essential for building a healthy society’

Ensuring proper nutrition by including vegetables, fruits and traditional food produce such as millets in diet was essential for building a healthy society, Collector S.Sivarasu said here on Thursday.

Inaugurating the Rashtriya Poshan Maah 2020 observation jointly organised by the ICAR –Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirugamani, Mr. Sivarasu also emphasised the need for ensuring balanced diet and nutrition for pregnant women, children and adolescents and observed that if this was done, the good health of the community can be ensured within two years.

Every year September is celebrated as National Nutrition Month across the country to ensure community mobilisation and bolster people’s participation. The major activity of the Rasthiya Poshan Maah 2020 will be to identify and track children with acute malnutrition and promotion of kitchen gardens. Vegetable seeds and planting materials were distributed to anganwadi workers and farm women, according to a KVK press release.

N. TamilSelvan, Programme Coordinator, KVK, Sirugamani,T. Bhuvaneswari, Project Director, Integrated Child Development Scheme, and others spoke. Scientists of the KVK briefed the anganwadi workers on nutrition, raising nutri gardens, raising suitable varieties and management techniques, integrated pest and disease management in vegetable crops, and use of vegetable waste as animal feed.

Forty anganwadi workers and 30 farm women participated in the event.