Keonjhar: The inclusion of Ragi Laddus for pre-school children under ICDS in Keonjhar under “Special programme for promotion of Millets in Tribal-cum-Mining Areas of Keonjhar, Odisha under DMF” completes one year today.
The program was launched on the 2nd of July 2020 on a pilot basis in the Keonjhar Sadar ICDS project and it was scale up in the entire 14 ICDS Project of Keonjhar from 1st September 2020. Along with the existing menu, from the 2nd of July 2020 2 Ragi Laddus per week has been provided as a morning snack to pre-school children (between 3 to 6 years) enrolled under ICDS in Keonjhar district.
As the COVID protocols are currently in place, pre-cooked Ragi Laddu Mix has been provided via home delivery for pre-school children. Laddus have been prepared at home by mothers and served to children.
The core objectives of the initiative are to improve the nutritional status of pre-school children and revive the age-old tradition of millet consumption, once prevalent among the tribal communities of Keonjhar. Ragi has over 30 times more Calcium and 4 times more Iron than polished rice. It also has more fibre, minerals, and antioxidants
The initiative has been providing an additional source of income to women SHGs, an assured price to farmers for Ragi, and boosts local production of Ragi and other millets. The Ragi Laddu mix is prepared by WSHGS with experience in THR supply or running any other enterprise at scale. To reduce drudgery and ensure quality and hygiene standards, a centralized Ragi Processing Unit consisting of a Grader-cum Aspirator and a Destoner has been set up at the SHG level funded by DMF.
In the first phase, preschool children enrolled across 335 Anganwadi Centres in Sadar block was covered under the initiative from 2nd July 2020. Subsequently, 86,925 pre-school children across 3,257 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the district was covered from the 1st of September 2020. The total budget of the program is Rs. 1.5 crores per annum and is entirely funded by DMF Keonjhar.
The initiative is a part of the ongoing “Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Tribal cum-Mining Areas” of Keonjhar under DMF implemented in partnership with Departments of A&FE, WCD&MS, ST &SC. M&BCW, FS&CW, and technical support of NCDS, WASSAN & CSIR-CFTRI. The initiative aims to increase the production, consumption, processing, and marketing of millets in the district.
With this historic step, Keonjhar became the first district in the state to include millets under ICDS. This is also a unique model in the country with decentralized production, procurement, processing. supply and consumption of millets.
NITI Aayog featured this unique initiative in their Health and Nutrition Practice Insights.