Chennai: Around 200 rural schools in Erode district will receive high-quality vegetable seeds free of cost to promote kitchen gardens within school premises. This is as part of a partnership between the government and Bayer.
This will not only enable schools to include nutritious vegetables in their midday meals for students, but also aims to help address broader concerns around hunger, malnutrition, and micro-nutrient deficiency among school-going children, said a press release.
The seed packs from Bayer include high-yielding Semini vegetable seeds in six horticulture crops: tomato, green chilli, hot pepper, cucumber, okra and sweet corn.
The packs also come with simple guidelines on cultivating these vegetable crops, be it in the backyard or in pots, bags etc. The on-ground cultivation will be carried out under the guidance of school teachers and children will be encouraged to play an active role and observe how vegetables are grown, it added.