Hyderabad: A high-level meeting on promoting vegetable cultivation for sourcing to centralised kitchens serving breakfast to schools across the state was held on Tuesday, August 11, at Praja Bhavan.
The meeting was chaired by Dr G. Chinna Reddy, Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Board and Chairman of the Expert Committee constituted for the agricultural sector.
Also present were K. Surendra Mohan, Principal Secretary of the Agriculture Department, B. Gopi, Director of Agriculture, and other senior officials from the School Education and Horticulture departments, along with representatives of the Hare Krishna Mission, Manna Foundation and Akshaya Patra.
The meeting discussed a comprehensive plan for promoting vegetable cultivation across the state to meet the requirements of the school breakfast programme. It was estimated that to provide breakfast to approximately 20.50 lakh school and Intermediate students across Telangana, nearly 1.20 lakh kilograms of vegetables would be required every day.
They discussed how to provide nutritious food to school students in rural areas while simultaneously creating a stable market for local farmers and strengthening rural women’s groups.
The main issue discussed was establishing a system to procure vegetables directly from local farmers for the food programmes being implemented for rural school students.
Officials explained that food programmes are currently being implemented with the support of organisations such as the Hare Krishna Mission, Manna Trust, and Akshaya Patra to ensure quality food for rural students.
The meeting decided that a procurement mechanism could be established so that organisations can directly procure vegetables from farmers. This would reduce the role of middlemen, enable farmers to get better prices and ensure a reliable supply of fresh vegetables.
Officials stated that the initiative would establish a mutually beneficial system linking farmers, women’s groups, food-service organisations and school students.
Identifying farmers around centralised kitchens
Around 39 centralised kitchens are preparing and supplying food to rural school students across the state. The meeting decided to identify farmers in villages around these kitchens.
Officials from the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments will identify suitable farmers and create awareness among them about various government schemes, subsidies, technical assistance and other support available for vegetable cultivation.
Special emphasis will be placed on involving women farmers and rural women’s groups in the programme, it was decided.
Officials from the Agriculture, Horticulture, Rural Development and Education Departments will undertake field-level visits from August 17 to 20.
During these visits, officials will meet farmers cultivating vegetables, women farmers and women’s groups and assess their requirements.
The meeting decided that the district-level reports should be forwarded to the state level by August 22, which is when the Expert Committee will meet again.
