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Aliza Pradhan, an agronomist by profession, has five years experience of working in sustainable management of agro-ecological resources for tribal societies in India. She holds a PhD in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. Her research interest includes developing and validating location specific agricultural production systems in an area for sustainable crop intensification. For LANSA, Aliza is the coordinator of the MSSRF Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) study in Koraput, Odisha and Wardha, Maharashtra.
Aliza Pradhan
Thank you Takele Teshome for your contribution. Rightly said about importance of proper land use planning and cropping pattern as well as creating nutrition awareness and building linkages among different stakeholders towards achieving food and nutritional security. Regarding sustainability of nutrition awareness programs, I would like to share one example from our study. Besides having workshops and meetings, we are also conducting training programs to build capacity of local men and women (Known as "Community Hunger Fighters") on nutrition related messages such as balanced diet, importance of hygiene and sanitation, nutritive value of different foods, food requirement at different stages of life cycle as well as different ways of linking agriculture to nutrition, knowledge of entitlements on agriculture, food and nutrition in the area, so that they diffuse the message within and outside the community.
We also have nutrition garden interventions in schools and ICDS centres where different groups of vegetables are grown and the produce is going towards the Mid Day Meal.
Thanks.
Aliza
Aliza Pradhan
Thank you Nicole Lowe for sharing your research. Interesting !
Aliza Pradhan
Dear all !
Welcome to the ediscussion.
My name is Aliza Pradhan, I am an agronomist and coordinating the Farming System for Nutrition Study in India under the research consortium "Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA).
This FSN study envisages the introduction of location-specific agricultural remedies for nutritional maladies by mainstreaming nutritional criteria in the selection of farming system components. The study is underway in two study sites; Koraput (Odisha) and Wardha (Maharashtra) where our crop interventions are focusing on increased area and productivity of nutrient rich crops such as pulses (Pigeon pea, black gram, green gram, bengal gram) and millets (finger millet, sorghum) among small and marginal farmers so that there will be increased availability of nutrient rich food per household. In addition, being climate smart crops these will help in building resilience to future environmental changes.
I will be cofacilitating the ediscussion and I will be very interested in knowing your thoughts/ experiences/feedback as well.
Best
Aliza