“We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough” – Helen Keller
Bank of Nutrition, an initiative promoted by iSambhav is aimed at envisioning a working solution for the worst hit malnourished people who go to sleep hungry at night and pregnant women who don’t get enough food to sustain themselves which manifests as mental and/or physical disabilities in their children and a lifetime of difficulties. These are issues that are common across India’s villages and are part of the social fabric of the country. Niranjan Khatri, is the Ex General Manager Environment Initiatives of ITC Hotels who pioneered the concept of eco design in ITC Bay Island, Port Blair way back in 1988, when it was a novel concept. In an exclusive interview with The Organic Magazine, Khatri, founder and principal consultant, iSambhav elucidates on another pathbreaking concept – the Bank of Nutrition (BON).
What was the vision behind Bank of Nutrition (BON)?
Hunger in India is a complex issue. It is widespread and the causes are different across various regions. I had gone to take a training session for the hearing and speech impaired in Kopal district in Karnataka in 2016. Stark poverty was visible in the harsh, dry barren land of this district. One of the inputs I gave the local NGO was to set up a Bank of Nutrition (BON) to address the low nutrition profile of the poor people with a low cost approach of nurturing saplings of Moringa, lemon, guava, amla, papaya and banana as all these are very rich in vitamins for normal growth.
BON aims to empower below the poverty line households with access to plants that they can grow easily and inexpensively in their backyards or around their homes. The plants proposed are fruits and vegetable plants like guavas, lemons, papayas, drumsticks (Moringa), bananas, amla – easy to grow but also providers of daily nutrition and health. These plants are extremely rich in vitamins A, B and C. They are also a source of antioxidants, fiber and essential minerals.
Children are born with deformities or cognitive deficiency because of malnutrition in pregnant women. Distributing these plants for planting behind the house gives the families access to nutrition, reduces heat in summer and indirectly provides food for the birds and bees – a holistic approach to Planet, People and Profit!
Tell us about the project.
The project was implemented in a few villages to showcase the concept with the hope that it will become a people’s movement. I engaged with GOI officials and I recommended to them to scale it up through NABARD (National Bank for Rural Development).
How has it evolved so far? How is it being funded?
A humble pilot initiative has been started by iSambhav, in Karnataka’s Koppal village to exhibit proof of concept. This is being executed by partnering with a local NGO called Samuha, with promising results.
In July this year BON collaborated with a NGO to educate the rural poor children and suggested to them to dovetail BON in the practical aspect with children and their families. This initiative has been rolled out in 24 villages. The children are going to compete with each other to ensure 100% survival rate of the saplings planted by them and their families. Fortunately, the NEP – national education policy rolled out in August has introduced that school education must have elements of agriculture!
BON is a partnership oriented with time, space and small amount of seed money to start. The NGO stimulates the village stakeholders, some villager gives a small piece of land for a month to nurture the saplings and my organisation along with some other wellwishers put in the money.
Your insights on the nutrition of our ancient grains.
Considering that climate change will reduce the availability of water, we will have to migrate from eating grains which consume too much water like rice and wheat to ragi and bajra. The momentum is already taking place in this direction.
Future plans for BON?
Our vision is to empower villagers and make them independent to establish their own BON from seedling stage to saplings adopting low cost techniques and simultaneously encouraging children to collect and start seed banks constituting papaya, mango, moringa and any other seed so that they are self sufficient (Atmanirbhar).
iSambhav is keen to share this idea with organisations like NGOs, government and private enterprises to expand this project to villages across the country. This concept can be started by any organisation. Clubs like Rotary, Lions have a great opportunity to kickstart this on big scale across the country with their well-established network. It can also be adopted by departments of government which deal with rural parts of their respective country related to food security health and nutrition. The concept can be adopted by countries in Africa and other developing nations
Good on you Niranjan and great choice of location
Excellent Niranjan. Your corporate experience and the attitude to help the destitute will be a trail blazer.
Great idea. How do you ensure sustainability. Will the produce be bought or its subsidised . Also in the urban govt schools there’s dearth of space plus no water.
very good initiative. best wishes for a great success.