With one in three malnourished children in the world living in India, the problem of child malnutrition has been one of the major developmental concerns of the country for many years.  One of the ways in which the government's Mid-day Meal Program aims to successively tackle this serious issue is by providing underprivileged school-going children with nutritious food through effective private-public partnerships that implement the program.

To further enhance nutritional support for the Government's Mid-day Meal Program, Akshaya Patra, Rajasthan recently partnered with Monsanto Fund (the philanthropic arm of Monsanto, a leading agriculture company) that has worked for 40 years to improve the quality of life for people by bridging the gap between their needs and their resources.

"Malnutrition is a critical problem in our society today and strengthening the Mid Day Meal Program is one way to ensure our children have the best nutrition available, which in turn encourages and maintains school enrolment and education," said R. Govinda Dasa, President, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Rajasthan, on the occasion of the inauguration of the kitchen garden supported by Monsanto Fund.

 This pilot initiative will positively impact nearly 150,000 children through farming infrastructure established in 15 acres of fertile land near Govindgargh, Jaipur for the cultivation of nutritious vegetables to be used in freshly cooked meals prepared for the children by Akshaya Patra. The facility, with a capacity to grow over 30,000 kilograms of carrots, okra, beetroot, brinjal, among others, has also been fitted with Solar Dehydrating Plants, for the purpose of providing children with  a wide variety of nutritious vegetables during off seasons. It also contains greenhouses that will aid in the farming of vegetables like broccoli or capsicum that may need special agronomic conditions. 

Such measures increase sustainability of the program while improving the quality of the meal given to children by enhancing its nutritional value. The scheme is in accordance with the Foundation's vision to ensure that 'no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger'.