Nutrition

The team at Panjab University, Chandigarh, have produced this short film featuring their work on Nutrition Kitchen Gardens (Poshan Vatika) as part of TIGR2ESS. 'It was a joy to see the pride and satisfaction among the kitchen gardeners. We believe that the Government’s program Poshan Vatika can be adopted by secondary...

The NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health in Cambridge led by Professor Sumantra Ray along with the NNEdPro India team have been investigating the diets of ‘Santhal’ tribe communities in rural India to identify key nutritional gaps. This consultancy work is providing a nutritional science basis to the Global...

From Agricultural Nutrition and Social Empowerment to Human Nutrition and Health in India – a workshop held on 24 July 2021. Organised by the NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health, in partnership with the University of Cambridge TIGR2ESS GCRF Programme and the University of Surrey Maharashtra GCRF. Life course...

The relationship between food consumption and physical activity is an important one, particularly for researchers looking into food consumption patterns in relation to nutritional balance. Here, Flagship Project 1 Research Associate Astha Upadhyay from TIGR2ESS collaborator PRADAN shares her recent experience using activity monitors in the community she researches in Chakai, Bihar.

Women’s role in agriculture is of the utmost importance not only for developing the rural economy but also in ensuring food security. During COVID-19 lockdown in India, women’s unpaid workload in both domestic chores and care for family has noticeably increased. Here, Dr Pratheepa and Dr Rengalakshmi from the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) describe the situation faced by agricultural labour families in their study area for TIGR2ESS Flagship Project 1 and how women are tackling the lockdown period.

In Mangalta village, 20 women are working non-stop, packing and processing food and nutrition supplements to be distributed to the most vulnerable sections of the society - pregnant and nursing mothers, infants and children under six years. This has become even more critical during the COVID-19 lockdown period. As Babita (35), a federation functionary said, “We need to ensure the take home rations are delivered to the Anganwadi Centre (Child-care centres run under the Integrated Child Development Services or ICDS), so the workers can ensure this reaches those who need it most in these times of lockdown. We are taking all the necessary safety and precautionary measures such as maintaining physical distancing , use of sanitisers and masks and so on”.

Changing food consumption practices among the tribal youth in India is a recent phenomenon. Job prospects and new livelihood options are influencing many lifestyle changes. Changes in food consumption bear an impact on the health and well-being of the youth. Moreover, the decline of traditional ecological knowledge is a worrying trend from a sustainable food systems approach. Here, Dr Anuprita Shukla of Flagship Project 6 discusses her research focused on the tribal youth of Maharashtra.

Following the TIGR2ESS General Assembly in Hyderabad, Charlotte Milbank, a University of Cambridge PhD student, and Shuvajit Chakraborty, executive of TIGR2ESS collaborator PRADAN , travelled to Flagship Project 1 field sites in south Bihar. Here, Charlotte recounts their insights from a week with the Santhal Pargana and Pahariya tribal groups.