Food Systems in India
- India
- In Progress
- September 2022 – September 2027
- Strengthening Primary Healthcare / Multi-Sectoral Interventions / Empowering people & Communities / RCS / Community Engagement Initiatives
Background
Food systems play a vital role in ensuring access to healthy, safe, and nutritious diets while protecting the environment and supporting vulnerable communities. In order to be effective, food systems must be productive, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. Public food procurement (PFP) has emerged as a powerful policy instrument to promote sustainable food systems and healthy diets by influencing what food is produced, procured, and consumed through public institutions. It encompasses the entire process of food provision by government, including meals delivered through schools and welfare programs for vulnerable populations. Given its extensive reach, PFP has the potential to shape national food demand, improve dietary quality, and contribute to better population health outcomes, particularly in reducing malnutrition and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In India, the burden of malnutrition remains unacceptably high, with significant levels of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under five, alongside a growing prevalence of overweight and NCD risk factors among children and adolescents. These trends are closely linked to changing food systems and dietary patterns characterized by cereal-heavy diets, low intake of protein- and micronutrient-rich foods, and rising consumption of processed and ultra-processed foods. Addressing malnutrition in all its forms therefore requires a life-course approach, with early and sustained interventions that promote healthy eating behaviors during formative years.
Sustainable public food procurement, particularly through institutional feeding programs, offers a unique opportunity to operationalize “double-duty actions” that simultaneously address undernutrition, overnutrition, and diet-related NCDs while supporting local agriculture and environmental sustainability. International experiences demonstrate that linking public food demand with smallholder farmers can strengthen local food systems, improve livelihoods, and enhance dietary diversity. In India, large-scale programs such as Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) school feeding program and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) have substantial outreach but continue to face challenges related to food quality, diversity, and implementation gaps. Complementary initiatives such as nutrition gardens and millet integration show promise but remain limited in scale and coordination. At the household and institutional levels, nutri-gardens and local procurement models can further improve access to fresh and diverse foods, especially when combined with strong social and behavior change communication (SBCC) strategies. However, constraints related to resources, capacity, and community engagement often hinder effective implementation. In this context, there is a critical need for integrated interventions that strengthen institutional feeding programs, promote sustainable procurement, and reinforce nutrition education, thereby enhancing dietary diversity and generating long-term health and environmental benefits.
Aim
Develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of multi-component, diversified, and environment-friendly intervention consisting of Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children (3-11 years) utilising community-based nutri-gardens and complementary nutrition education over a period of 18 months.
Study Objective
Research Methodology
This research work is being conducted in two phases with focus on three public food procurement programs (PFPPs) viz., Public Distribution System (PDS), Supplementary nutrition component under ICDS and PM-POSHAN school feeding program.
Phase 1 – Formative phase for co-development of a food systems intervention:
During the formative phase, the study explored components of Government institutional feeding programs for children, the local food environment at the household level, and dietary diversity among women of reproductive age. Based on these findings, a basket of interventions was developed and refined through a co-production process involving community members and stakeholders at village, block, and district levels.
Their insights and suggestions were utilised to fine-tune and develop a potentially implementable multicomponent intervention package utilizing government institutional feeding program complemented with a supply of vegetables from the community managed nutri-gardens and nutrition education to diversify diets of children in selected villages of two blocks of Surguja district, Chhattisgarh with environmental co-benefits. The intervention was designed through a participatory and evidence-based process.
Phase 2 – Evaluation of a multi-component intervention consisting of diversified Government institutional feeding programs for improving dietary diversity of children with environmental co-benefits:
The intervention package developed will be implemented and evaluated using a quasi-experimental field trial. Various components of the intervention package include:
1. Establishment and management of community-managed nutri-gardens to support the supply of fresh vegetables to schools and Anganwadi centres in specific areas across 2 blocks of Surguja district.
2. Developing and implementing revised, diversified, seasonal cyclic menus for Schools and AWC utilizing culturally acceptable, local recipes using local produce.
3. Capacity building and enabling the schoolteachers, cooks and Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi helpers, for managing the local supply chain and bulk preparation of the cyclic menu in the schools and AWCs using sound principles of food preparation for nutrient retention and food safety.
4. Enhancing the competency of frontline workers and teachers in providing nutrition education on healthy eating, sustainable diets, and diets for the prevention of NCDs and management of noncommunicable diseases (on a need basis by frontline healthcare workers) to the program beneficiaries and the community in general to enhance healthy eating and dietary diversity at household level.
Expected Impact
The developed intervention package is expected to improve dietary diversity and nutrient intake among school going and Anganwadi centre going children through increased access to diverse, fresh and locally sourced foods. By strengthening community-based supply system and access to fresh produce from nutri-gardens, diversifying institutional menus, and enhancing nutrition education, the intervention will promote healthier eating practices. This will contribute to improved child nutrition outcomes and environmentally sustainable supplementary feeding programs.
