Improved nutrition for rural communities

Although India’s food production is powered by India’s villages, inadequate dietary diversity in rural households is a significant concern. Reliance Foundation takes a community-centric approach to improve dietary diversity. Raising awareness of the importance of a balanced diet is an indispensable part of this approach.

The approach begins with helping communities to increase their farm yields. Households are encouraged to diversify food production to include cereals like millets, fruits, vegetables, milk, legumes and animal sources of protein. Vegetable and fruit production are encouraged through backyard kitchen gardens. Several thousand such gardens have been established by rural communities across India at homes, schools and Anganwadis.

Water is linked closely to nutrition, which is why Reliance Foundation’s efforts to conserve water are also aimed at ensuring drinkable water is provided as well as water for agriculture.

Besides enhancing source inflows through recharge wells and rainwater harvesting, Reliance Foundation focuses on improving access to clean drinking water by supporting the development of storage and distribution infrastructure. This includes co-development of piped water supply systems and community-owned and constructed water storage tanks, through various participatory efforts.