Nurturing through Nutri gardens: A teacher couple in Vayadpur has completed 20 years of a unique nutrition campaign

A teacher couple Narendra Chauhan and Sushma Chauhan at Government Primary School in Vayadpur village in Dabhoi taluka have been providing unique nutritional recipes for the last 20 years. They grow all the vegetables on the premises of the school. All the recipes are cooked with the motive of providing nutrition through seasonal vegetables. So far, approximately 11,000 kg worth Rs. 3.30 lakh vegetables were grown and were served to children in their meals.

They also delivered the vegetables to the children who could not attend school due to COVID-19. Recalling the time two decades ago, Narendra Chauhan said that the school had a lot of empty space and he realized that this space can be utilized to grow a Nutri-garden. Since the initiation of this Nutri-garden they have been providing mid-day meals to the students. Over the period of time, with the help of donors and villagers, the Nutri-garden has been updated for better cultivation methods.

Ever since 2002, they have been working on this initiative, and sometimes Narendra has also bought seeds at his personal expense and he also tried new crops for exploring more nutrition options. Every year, the total produce is almost around 500-800 kg which they also provide to Anganwadi centres and the students for their mid-day meals.

They also educate the students about various nutritional facts. They grow seasonal vegetables like spinach, fenugreek, radish, carrot, beet, coriander, garlic, chili, brinjal, tomato, gourd, cauliflower, green onion, red and round radish. 

Their ‘Poshan Vatika’ has become a state-of-the-art example and is visited by many fellow teachers and delegations.