Abstract
Horticultural intervention combined with extensive nutrition education is recommended as one of the long-term food-based strategies to control and eliminate micronutrient malnutrition. A three-year study was undertaken in 20 villages in two agroclimatic regions in one of the south Indian states to assess the feasibility of home gardening to increase the availability of ∧-carotene-rich foods and to assess the impact of the increase in availability on the consumption of these foods by preschool children and the effects, if any, on the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency. After a baseline survey, seeds and seedlings of carotene-rich foods were distributed by trained village assistants to households with pre-school children. Multimedia nutrition education was provided by village assistants and district-level supervisors. An evaluation at the end of three years revealed that there was a more than six-fold increase in the percentage of households with home gardens. About 85% of these households were growing seasonal greens such as amaranth and spinach, in addition to perennials such as drumstick, papaya, and bachali(Basella alba). The frequency of consumption of carotene-rich foods (more than once a week) increased by about 50% over that observed at baseline. About 50% of the households with surviving drumstick plants were consuming their leaves, as compared with none at baseline. The prevalence of Bitot's spots showed a declining trend, although not statistically significant (p > .05), with increasing duration of participation. This study clearly indicates that the home gardening approach is feasible and can be an essential long-term strategy to combat vitamin A deficiency in rural India, and points out the need to add nutrition to the current horticultural programmes in India.