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(45 kg). During the months of July and March, the yields of vegetables were 6.98 kg and 3.10 kg respectively.
The low yield of vegetables during these months was due to the fact that most of the summer vegetables were
sown/ transplanted in the month of March and kharif vegetables were sown/ transplanted in July. Similarly,
fortnightly availability of vegetables were also calculated and given in Table 4. The results of this investigation
indicate that mean vegetables produced during first and second fortnight of January (25.40 kg, 25.10 kg),
February (24.97, 20.88), March (1.63, 1.47), April (3.20, 7.35), May (15.10, 24.38), June (11.52, 11.32), July
(3.38, 3.60), August (6.28, 7.17), September (13.85, 14.28), October (15.49, 17.32), November (9.45, 11.46), and
December (11.23, 12.12), respectively, and total vegetables means of all the months were 141.50 kg and 156.45
kg, respectively. This shows that there was continuous availability of vegetables during first and second fortnight
of all months.
Table 3 Monthly availability of vegetables (Kg) in nutrition garden
Month
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
Grand
VRF
VTF
Mean
VRF
VTF
Mean
VRF
VTF
Mean
Mean
January
48.30
47.90
48.10
49.60
48.60
49.10
54.90
53.70
54.30
50.50
February
45.80
43.30
44.55
45.90
46.80
46.35
47.00
46.30
46.65
45.85
March
3.10
2.80
2.95
3.00
2.80
2.90
3.10
3.80
3.45
3.10
April
10.40
9.30
9.85
10.70
9.00
9.85
12.40
11.50
11.95
10.55
May
36.00
36.50
36.25
41.50
40.10
40.80
42.00
40.80
41.40
39.48
June
22.10
21.40
21.75
23.00
23.50
23.25
23.50
23.50
23.50
22.83
July
6.90
6.70
6.80
6.60
7.00
6.80
7.20
7.50
7.35
6.98
August
13.50
13.30
13.40
13.20
12.30
12.75
14.40
13.80
14.10
13.42
September 25.60
27.10
26.35
28.40
28.90
28.65
28.60
30.20
29.40
28.13
October
37.55
35.33
36.44
30.65
29.72
30.19
32.30
31.30
31.80
32.81
November 21.49
21.58
21.54
20.90
20.80
20.85
20.80
19.90
20.35
20.91
December
27.07
27.07
27.07
21.65
21.00
21.33
21.70
21.80
21.75
23.38
Total
297.81
292.28
295.05
295.10
290.52
292.81
307.90
304.10
306.00
297.95
Note: VRF-vegetable research farm; VTF: vegetable teaching farm
Households with gardens typically obtain from them more than 50 percent of their supply of vegetables. Talukder
et al. (2000) asserted that children in households with garden consumed vitamin A-rich foods, such as green leafy
vegetables and yellow fruits, more frequently than did children in households without a garden or with a
traditional garden. Very small mixed vegetable gardens can provide a significant percentage of the recommended
dietary allowance for protein (10-20 %), iron (20 %), calcium (20 %), vitamin A (80 %) and vitamin C (100 %)
(Marsh and Talukder, 1994; AVRDC, 1983-89). Though, all the nutritive daily requirements for an adult cannot
be met with this suggested nutrition garden model but this model supplements major share of the daily
requirements. The nutritive value of all these vegetable crops is given in Table 4. Average daily nutrient
requirement of an adult is; 10-20 mg iron, 3000-10,000 IU vitamin A, 1.5 mg riboflavin, 600 mg calcium and 50
mg vitamin C (Indian Council of Medical Research, 2010). This nutrition garden provides 6387 IU vitamin A,
11.62 mg iron, 315 mg calcium and 105 mg vitamin C per day to each adult in the family. This showed that
availability of vitamin A, iron and vitamin C is at par or higher than the daily requirement. Thus this model is
able to meet daily requirement of vitamin A, iron, and vitamin C of family. Although, there is daily availability of
315 mg calcium per adult but its requirement of 600 mg can be met with the consumption of milk and milk
products as these are the richest source of calcium.
Though vegetables are recognized as the most important source of these micronutrients, yet the per capita
vegetable consumption in India (86 g/day) is far below the FAO’s recommended (200 g/day). The limited supply
of vegetables, especially during the off-season, higher market price and lower appreciation or awareness
regarding their consumption are key factors that limit the vegetable consumption rate in the developing world.
One way to achieve this goal is to increase the nutritional status and income of people through research,
