WCD to launch Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh

Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh, a repository of diverse crops across 128 agro-climatic zones in India, will be launched on Monday for better nutritional outcomes and to fight malnutrition, the Women and Child Development Ministry said.

WCD Minister Smriti Zubin Irani along with Bill Gates, co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will deliver a special address and eminent agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan will give a special message on this occasion, it said in a statement.

At the request of the ministry, the Harvard Chan School of Public Health through its India Research Center and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will document and evaluate promising regional dietary practices and the messaging around them and develop a food atlas on regional agro-food systems. Both efforts are aimed at mobilizing the diverse sectors of the society, the statement said.

In consultation with WCD Ministry and the foundation, the project team will select around 12 high focus states which are representative of the geographical, social, economic, cultural and structural diversities of India.

In each of the states or group of states the team will identify a local partner organization which has relevant work experience in Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) and nutrition for developing the food atlas, it said.