Nutrition Smart Village

The Nutrition Smart Village was launched by the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in November 2021. The programme aims to reach 75 villages in India. It will promote nutritional awareness in these villages.

What is Nutrition Smart Village?

The Nutrition Smart Village aims to promote nutritional awareness and bring behavioural change in the rural areas of the country. The programme targets farm women and school children. The program will spread the traditional knowledge of India. Also, the programme will impart the knowledge of local recipes that help to overcome the issues of malnutrition. It will spread nutrition – sensitive agriculture through nutri– garden.

How are the objectives of Nutrition Smart Village achieved?

The objectives are achieved through All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Women in Agriculture. The project is in operation in 13 centres located in 12 states of the country. Each AICRP centre will adopt five villages. The rest of the villages are to be adopted by the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research). This is being done under Prime Minister Modi’s call to agricultural scientists and academicians to transform 75 villages.

What is the need of Nutrition Smart Village?

In India, malnutrition is the major contributor to the under – five mortality rates. Also, more than sixty million children in the country are underweight. This is almost half the children population in the country. Around 45% are stunted, 57% are Vitamin A deficient, 21% are wasted.