Enhancement of Food and Nutritional Security of Rural Poor through Tuber Crops
The significance of tuber crops as a source of food, nutrition and income for farmers is well known; but these are often overlooked in the debate about improving food security and tackling malnutrition. This study is a sub-component of a Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) underway in Koraput, Odisha and Wardha in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, under the research programme on Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA). Tuber crops occupy an integral part of the food and agricultural system of communities in these regions but the area under cultivation is very less and it is done in a traditional method. The overall aim was to promote and create awareness of nutrition sensitive agriculture among the tribal poor through introduction of nutrient rich crop varieties both at field and in nutrition gardens followed by their upscale.
