Bhubaneswar: Odisha has won applause from NITI Aayog for introducing ragi ladoo as morning snacks for preschool children covered under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts to improve their nutritional status.
Niti Aayog in its report on ‘Take Home Ration: Good Practices Across The States/UTs’ hailed it as a unique model in the country with decentralised production, procurement, processing, supply and consumption of millets.
Ragi ladoo is being used as morning snacks for children aged between 3 and 6 years in the two tribal-dominated districts since July 2020. As COVID protocols were in place, pre-cooked ragi laddu mix was provided via home delivery.
The provisions are over and above the existing entitlements under Supplementary Nutritional Programme (SNP), the document said.
Premix for ragi ladoo is prepared by the Self Help Groups (SHGs) with technical support from Millets Mission and then supplied to the Anganwadi centres for the children, it said.
“The core objective of the programme is to improve the nutritional status of pre-school children and revive the age-old traditional culture of millet consumption once prevalent among the tribal communities of Keonjhar,” it added.
The initiative of Odisha’s Women and Child Development department has provided an additional source of income to women’s SHGs, an assured price to farmers for ragi and a boost to local production of ragi and other millets.
With this historic step, Keonjhar became the first district in the state to include millets under ICDS, it said, adding this is also a unique model with decentralised production, procurement, processing, supply and consumption of millets.
Taking into account, the successful implementation of the programme, it is now proposed to scale up the programme in the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) districts in the state.
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