Agriculture

Agriculture and Nutrition

Agriculture

The Grand Challenges India (GCI) partnership announced the first call titled ‘Achieving Healthy Growth through Agriculture and Nutrition in August 2013. The overall goal of the program was to target the linkage and relationship between agriculture, nutrition and health and structure agriculture and food systems in ways that improve the nutrition, incomes and productivity of smallholder’s farmers and the rural poor, through Proof-of Concept studies. The program is supported by the DBT, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and supporting partner USAID.

The program received 172 applications and underwent a three-tier screening process and 5 pilot studies (2 Interventional Development Grant and 3 Seed Grant) were selected based on technical merits.

The initiative funded a portfolio of Indian‐led pilot studies that brought together a multi-disciplinary consortium of interventions to evaluate innovations at the nexus of agriculture, nutrition, and health to reduce the high incidence of low birth weight, early stunting and wasting among Indian infants and empower women in their multiple family roles.

All five projects are completed at their respective implementation sites.

→  On-farm participatory models of Integrated Farming System (IFS), Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, tested the viability of an alternative farming system on productivity, economic return and women empowerment.

→  The domestic solar conduction dryer project developed by Science for Society, Mumbai, Maharashtra tested a new technology to assess its impact on the diet diversity of the participants and economic returns.

→  Veggie Lite piloted by eKutir Pvt. Ltd., Odisha, tested supply chain innovation to assess its impact in improving access to fresh vegetables and fruits to supplement nutrition at affordable prices in rural and peri-urban areas.

→  An ICT based pilot project, Digital Education, by Digital Green, New Delhi, tested the impact of a combination of ICT and participatory approaches to improving the knowledge of women on nutrition.

→  The Zinc Bio-fortification project by  Amity University, Noida, tested an agricultural intervention that used foliar application of zinc on rice and wheat crops to potentially address micronutrient deficiency through supplementation of food crops.