Ambuja Foundation promotes kitchen gardening as a way to improve nutrition, particularly for women, and to provide a supplementary income source for families, especially during times like the COVID-19 lockdown. Essentials like training, seeds, and support to individuals and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to establish and maintain kitchen gardens, encouraging the consumption of fresh vegetables and the sale of surplus produce in local markets.

In the initial phase, Ambuja Foundation provided training to beneficiaries and oriented them on how to grow atleast 10 vegetables in a small piece of land. Home grown vegetables provides a nutritious balanced diet maintains weight and helps increase high density lipid (HDL). It is also important to maintain Haemoglobin (HB) levels and thus Ambuja Foundation is also working with adolescents to create awareness and conduct HB test at least once in a year.

Adequate nutrition is not only dependent on the quantity of food available. The seed kit provided by the foundation ensures a range of essential micro-nutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, magnesium, iron, folate, manganese, zinc, potassium, sodium, calcium, fibre, phosphorous among others.

Sukhpreet Kaur, a beneficiary and a resident of Mehma Sawai village says, “Apart from saving money, the kitchen garden initiative also helped me to improve the nutrition status of my family. Regular intake of nutrient rich vegetables like Lady Finger, Spinach, Bottle Gourd increases energy levels and efficiency at work.”