Kerala Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar has recommended adopting nutritious-sensitive agriculture practices in the State as a new normal in Covid era farming.

Designing such agricultural strategies will minimise the risks and maximise the benefits of nutrition and health across the entire value chain right from production to consumption, he said.

The Minister was speaking at a webinar “on the role of nutrition and kitchen garden to boost immunity”, organised by the Department of Community Science, Kerala Agriculture University.

He pointed out that the Covid lockdown has brought renewed interest on immunity boosting foods to stay healthy. Majority of the households have shifted to kitchen gardens, nutria-gardens and homestead farms that serve as a regular source of fresh, nutritious and safe-to-eat vegetables and fruits.

However, the adoption of nutrition sensitive agriculture requires an integrated knowledge on agriculture-nutrition-health interrelations. It is in this context the information on immunity boosting crops and their impact on human health becomes an essential prerequisite for the common man, he said.

Crop cafeteria

R Chandra Babu, Vice Chancellor, Kerala Agriculture University, emphasised the need for popularising the age-tested agricultural paradigms of nutria-garden, kitchen garden, homestead farming, integrated farming. The crop cafeteria approach through appropriate selection of crops and allied activities can be promoted which would go a long way in combating the challenges posed by the pandemic-driven health crisis.

According to him, nutrition has an important role in supporting the immune system and maintaining proper functioning of the body. Though there is no scientific evidence that nutrition prevents or lessens the effects of Covid, he said it is essential to promote the importance of nutrition for overall health. The concept of nutrition-sensitive agriculture offers key opportunities for achieving improved nutrition and health for the people.

The major immunity boosting crops that form the components of the kitchen garden/nutria garden are ginger, turmeric, moringa, curry leaves, fruit crop such as banana, papaya, pineapple, seasonal vegetables such as tomato, brinjal, pumpkin, bitter gourd, cabbage, etc, he added.

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