Shillong, Sep 25: In a move to tackle malnutrition through home-grown food, over 500 families in Tura have received saplings of a special Vitamin C-rich pink guava called ‘Arka Poorna’.
The saplings were distributed at Rongkhon under a joint initiative by the NEHU Tura campus, Bosco Mount and ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru.
Arka Poorna is a scientific hybrid (Purple Local x Allahabad Safeda) developed by ICAR-IIHR. It has attractive pink pulp and contains 190-198mg of Vitamin C per 100 grammes, which is almost double the amount in a normal guava. Officials say it is perfect for both nutrition and commercial sale.
Each family received 2-5 saplings to plant in their kitchen gardens.
Prof CP Suresh of NEHU said, “We don’t just want to give saplings. We want families to grow nutrition in their backyard daily.”
