This Green Motivator is locally sourcing organic vegetables for her Anganwadi from her kitchen garden

Saraswathi from Budidhamitte village in Kolar district is an Anganwadi teacher and skilled tailor. Her family includes her husband and two sons. She earns a monthly income of Rs. 15,000 from her work as an Anganwadi teacher and from tailoring.

Saraswathi had two main objectives. First, she aimed to ensure that the Anganwadi did not depend on external sources for vegetables, but rather source them from within the village. Second, as an Anganwadi teacher, she sought to reduce malnutrition in both children and adults, promoting better health and nutrition within her community. She says, “I preach the importance of nutritious food to others in the village, I wanted to get the deeper meaning and gain more knowledge on that. Hence, I enrolled in the Buzz Green program  and completed the training in December 2022”. 

The kitchen garden module of the Green training excited her, as vegetables for Anganwadi could be sourced from there. She started to make arrangements for the kitchen garden. She had land, ear-marked for poultry farming. She used that land, utilised the seeds received in Anganwadi, irrigation water from her husband’s agricultural land, and started her kitchen garden journey. She was determined to organically cultivate her kitchen garden to ensure supply of nutritious vegetables. In May 2023 her efforts fructified where saplings of coriander, mint, curry leaf, brinjal, radish, ginger, beans tomato, broad beans and long beans were seen in her land. Her kitchen garden supplies the veggies to Anganwadi and for domestic use. Her domestic expenses on vegetables have reduced by Rs. 500 per month because of the kitchen garden and she earns Rs. 250 from the Anganwadi for facilitating this.

Saraswathi’s kitchen garden venture has inspired five other women to start a kitchen garden. She encourages them to grow the products without using any chemical fertilisers.  She conducts regular meetings in her village to make people aware of the benefits of kitchen gardens,and informs them on how to reduce plastic, conserve water and avail potable water. 

Saraswathi embodies what it means to be a Green Motivator - a climate action leader for her community!