Kitchen gardens in Thar provide safe food for all seasons

HYDERABAD: Women in the Thar Desert are picking the first harvest of vegetables that they had cultivated in their fenced communal kitchen gardens before the rains. The vegetables that have yielded in less than two months are tinda (round gourd) and guar (cluster bean), the most favourable food for the community often faced with food insecurity.

Other vegetable plants and edible leaves that usually grow after rains have also sprouted in the gardens, keeping the village women happy. Under the indigenous nutrition programme, initiated by a local Rural Development Association (RDA) in 13 villages of Tehsils Islamkot and Diplo of Tharparkar District, these women feel secured in terms of having safe food at their doorsteps.

They do not use any chemical inputs to grow food, and since the land is fertile and consumes little water, the gardeners continue the inspiring practice of planting kitchen gardens during winter as well.

Women in groups have prepared larger plots inside their fenced courtyards to cultivate vegetables and edibles leaves as well as trees to fight against the prolonged dry spells and delayed rains. The recent rains have already recharged water wells for domestic purposes and irrigating the small fields inside homes.

This nutrition-sensitive initiative intends to address the endemic issue of malnutrition in the district, which has been recognised as the topmost cause of high incidents of infant and maternal mortality in recent studies conducted by government and other humanitarian organisations.

The communities are already aware of sustainable use of water, which is the most essential, expensive and very scarce commodity in the desert. The people of this region encounter frequent dryness for many months, and pay a heavy price of the impacts of extreme weather conditions in the form of malnutrition, death, and hunger.

Muhammad Siddiq leading the RDA said the association gave technical assistance for land preparation, building protective fencing, and procurement of materials, watering equipment and seasonal vegetable seeds.

The initiative intended to tackle the issue of malnutrition in the desert areas, in which mostly poor families became victims. “Women-led activities in the villages can contribute in stabilising the nutritional needs of the communities,” Siddiq said. The concept of kitchen gardens came after increasing malnutrition among children was reported from the area. It made the association motivate and mobilise women to grow their own vegetable gardens at household levels, where some organisations have installed solar water pumps with house-to house water connection.

Various vegetables seeds, including chibhir (cucumis pubescens), tinda (round gourd), bhindee (lady finger), guar (cluster bean), lokee/ kadoo (gourd), toori (zucchini), melon, and water melon, were provided to the women. Seeds for trees like suhanjna (moringa oleifera), ber (jujube), neem (azadirachta indica), and kandi (prosopis cineraria) were also made available for planting in the courtyards. Moringa and kandi are considered nutritional for both human and animal consumption. Women have access to newly installed deep water wells with hand pumps for domestic consumption as well as for irrigating the vegetable gardens. They have taken responsibilities to ensure maintenance of water facilities, vegetable gardens, and trees.

They are resolved to continue the practice of sowing vegetable seeds in summer and winter to have access to safe food. Women have been major stakeholders in cultivating seasonal crops in the rainy season, harvesting and then collecting the grains for domestic use and for dealing with the local market. However, the widespread use of tractors and machinery in agriculture since the last decade has specifically pushed women to stay idle at home, as there was little work left for them in the fields. 

This initiative has made the community women secure and independent of rains for growing food, which can also be sold in the local market if in excess. The recent rains have not only impacted the yield of the kitchen gardens but also enabled the locals to collect wild vegetables from the fertile sand dunes.

According to Muhammad Siddiq, the provincial government's Forest Department, Arid Zone Research Institute (AZRI) Umerkot, and experts from Sindh Agriculture University of Tandojam contributed in the programme to encourage the desert women to cultivate safe food. 

The community people in the desert have planted 25,000 saplings, including 5,000 fruit trees. Women themselves narrate the importance of local trees. They use waste water purposefully for taking care of vegetables and trees around their fenced courtyards.