DDS organises food festival to conserve uncultivated leafy vegetables

The visitors were served millet lunch with these leafy vegetable recipes. DDS woman Lakshmamma said that the leafy vegetables were more nutritious than those we usually found in markets

Sangareddy: To conserve the uncultivated leafy vegetables found in agriculture fields and forest areas, the Deccan Development Society (DDS) women organised an expo and food festival for the scientists and citizens at Didigi in Zaheerabad mandal.

DDS has its own Krishi Vignana Kendram at Didigi where the DDS women would raise various crops. The women had put 40 varieties of leafy vegetables on display during the expo and they made 20 varieties of recipes with these vegetables.

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The visitors were served millet lunch with these leafy vegetable recipes. DDS woman Lakshmamma said that the leafy vegetables were more nutritious than those we usually found in markets.

However, she lamented that the leafy vegetables were disappearing as the farmers used weedicides extensively to protect their crops, unaware of the damage that they were doing to the ecosystem.

Saying that they used to harvest these vegetables on the bunds of fields and uncultivated lands on the outskirts of the villages, Lakshamma said that many of these vegetables are disappearing due to the cultivation of paddy and cotton.

However, she underlined the importance of conserving these vegetables since they would help us to stay healthy. Nutrition expert Dr Salome Yesudas said that DDS had started working on these leafy vegetables 20 years ago.

When NIN had carried out a study on these crops, she said it had found the leafy vegetables four to five times richer in nutrients they would regularly use in kitchens.

The festival was a huge draw as several people from across the state participated. The visitors enjoyed the delectable millet lunch.