WHAT : Fund, Setup & Support Vegetable Gardens for 101 Tribal families, to help combat Malnutrition & Hunger.
WHERE: Attapady, Kerala, India ; SELECTED VILLAGES: Daivkundu, Dundoor, Manthimala, Vandanpara
Partnering NGO : Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission, Attapady. India
Status : Completed September 2020. Scroll down for project completion report in October 2020 and a further progress report in March 2021
The problem to solve & how did it come about:
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life they way we have known it be. One of the areas this pandemic has highlighted is the hunger & exposure among marginalized and under-privileged due to slow down and shut down of the economy. Hence the importance of bringing about more self-reliance to their food supplies, while also providing them with nutritious food to enhance their immune systems. This project aimed to do both for 101 families for starters, in remote tribal communities of Attapady, in the province of Kerala, India.
In 2018, Anjana Rajendran of University of British Columbia and Shefali Panicker of Western University spent a month serving and working among the remote tribal communities of Attapady, in Kerala, India. This was part of the Kerala Hindus of North America Youth Internship program (now in its 4th year) in partnership with Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission, Attapady, Kerala. Click Here to view their internship report.
One of the areas of work there was on the prevalent Malnutrition among Tribal communities in this area. They found that their food was mostly devoid of essential nutrients and malnutrition. They also found that birth defects and poor maternal health continue to afflict these tribal communities. The infant death toll was 14 in 2017 alone. Additionally they found a majority of the tribal families had not engaged in agriculture on their own land for last 5-10 years. This coupled with poverty led them to without access to a balanced diet. In some cases often leading to starvation.
Project Report & Progress Report (2020- 2021)
KHNA Youth interns, in Attapady in 2018 and from past years in collaboration with Sewa Canada International Aid Inc, a registered charity organization with a track record of approximately 30 years in serving the world, in partnership with Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission(SVMM), Attapady, embarked on a fundraising campaign to raise CAD$ 7000 for this project.
Update dated 12th October 2020
With help of generous donors in the community across North America, the GoFundMe campaign and from other sources raised CAD $7262 or INR 395,216 in a few weeks in June. 100% of the funds received were transferred to Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission in Attapady in July 2020. Following receipt of funds, the implementation on the ground started soon after.
A list of 101 families in the 4 villages of Daivkundu (26 families), Dundoor (32 families), Manthimala (25 families), Vandanpara (18 families) were identified. Ground preparation including providing additional soil where required, planning & training were completed before the seeds were handed over to the families. One orientation class was conducted for preparation. COViD-19 restrictions effected the plans of conducting orientation classes for all the beneficiaries, but a plan for the trained representatives to train others was undertaken.
All families were also provided with Green Net fencing material to protect their gardens.
The vegetables planted comprised of Tomato, Green Chili, Beans (French and Cluster), Bitter Gourd, Ash Gourd, Ladies finger, Red Spinach & Egg Plant.
- Seeding was completed by 93 families by end of September.
- Eight families were waiting for rains to subside later in the year.
- Seeds of two types of beans and green chili decayed for seven beneficiaries in Daivakundu village due to exposure to rains after plantation. Remedial measures are planned.
- While seeds sprouted properly for 91 families, it did not sprout properly for 2 families. Remedial measures will be taken for the 2 families.
- Waste-bins for bio fertilizer distributed to each of the 101 families.
- A committee with two beneficiaries from each village were selected to form a committee to hold regular meetings and track progress with workers of SVMM, and resolve any issues faced with the kitchen gardens.lar meetings and track progress with workers of SVMM, and resolve any issues faced with the kitchen gardens.
Update dated 31st March 2021
- 71 kitchen gardens are doing well and producing good yield
- 20 Kitchen Gardens only vegetables like Red Spinach, Cluster Beans and Tomato are growing properly
- 10 families in Manithamala village are not engaged actively for various reasons and faced with certain challenges
- Challenges – Due to lack of cultivable land around a few homes, vegetables are being grown in agricultural land. Vegetables were found to not grow properly in agricultural land shared by Arecanut, Coconut, Banana farms. Lack of adequate water in the agriculture land was also found to be an issue.
- Benefits – Families have started to get benefits from the garden. They are utilizing these vegetables for their own consumption. A study to observe signs of improved nutrition among the beneficiaries is planned for later this summer.
- Production Monitoring : A weighing scale and a register has been provided to the farmer leaders in each village. The leader records the quantity of production in the register.
- Seeds for the next cycle of planting will be obtained from the produce so far.
- Tools – Garden Hoe, Hand Sprayer were distributed to the beneficiaries with help from Kerala Agriculture University.
- Bio-fertilizers – Trichoderma Viride and Psuedomonas Fluroscens were also distributed to the beneficiaries for application in their kitchen garden.
- Monitoring & Evaluation of each garden is done twice a month via site visits. Feedback and corrective measures, if required are then undertaken by the project coordinators of SVMM
We hope to provide another update later this year around Fall on the progress and benefits of this project to the tribal communities in Attapady, Kerala
Sewa Canada wishes to again express our gratitude to our donors who helped us raise the required funds to empower these families in their fight for self reliance for food and to combat malnutrition, while encouraging farming and also protecting the environment.
