Enhancing Food Access & Nutrition in Spiti

Spiti is a high-altitude cold desert with temperatures dipping as low as – 30°C during the 6-month long winter. With extreme temperatures like these, the people in Spiti face a host of challenges – where nutrition and health emerge as some of the most pressing concerns.

It is extremely hard to grow green vegetables in the region and in the winters, there is no access to green vegetables at all.

As a result vegetables are brought in from the plains over a distance of 2 to 3 days making them both expensive and hard to access across Spiti as the markets are centered around the few urban centres of Kaza & Tabo. Moreover in the winter months there is no access to vegetables as roads to most villages get snowed making access to markets impossible.

A diet with a regular intake of vegetables is imperative for overall health and well being.

Interventions

Improved Greenhouses

Enabling year-round access to fresh vegetables

IMPACT

150+ improved greenhouses built.

With the objective of providing access to fresh vegetables throughout the year, we started building Greenhouses in different villages across Spiti.

Based on a simple concept of using solar energy to create a greenhouse, we’ve adapted the greenhouse concept to the geographic and climatic context of a cold desert area such as Spiti. These improved greenhouses made out of mud are easy to build and maintain, enabling local farmers to grow vegetables not only in the summers but even in the winters.

One greenhouse can produce up to 50 kgs of green vegetables every month.

Farmers now regularly grow vegetables such as spinach, carrots, turnips, broccoli, tomatoes, coriander, mint, and cauliflower amongst others. The fresh produce from these greenhouses throughout the year contributes to nutrition and better health for the locals along with reduction in expenditure and emissions from transport of vegetables over long distances. Moreover they can also sell surplus produce providing them with an additional source of income.