They are orphan greens, but loaded with nutrients

MACHNOOR: They are called uncultivated greens or orphan greens as they grow free on your farms unnoticed and rather neglected. They are orphans as they are not grown commercially like any other leafy vegetable like spinach or lettuce.

For instance, gunugu kura (celosia argentea) is often mistaken as a weed but it contains the highest content of iron as high as 20.9 mg per 100 grams. With just 49 kilo calories per 100 grams, it offers 3.9 grams of muscle-building protein, 201 grams of fibre, 389 grams of calcium, and 78 mg of phosphorus. Fat in these green vegetables is only 0.3 grams. Other prominent orphan greens are chanchal kura (Digene Muricata), uttareni (Achyranthus Aspera) and budda kakara (Cardiospermum Halicabum).

Deccan Development Society (DDS) organises the ‘Annual Uncultivated Greens Festival’ in Machnoor Village, Jharasangham Mandal near Zaheerabad. This year nearly 150 people took part in the event including enthusiastic urban visitors, Sangham women farmers, agricultural scientists, and health experts.

Participants travelled from other districts in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to join the festival. They first visited two villages – Arjun Nayak Thanda and Potpalle where they visited biodiverse farms with around 15 crops and interacted with the women farmers.

Sangham farmers showed them 20 different orphan greens on their farms and explained their properties, medicinal benefits, and details on how they can be cooked into delicious curries. “We used to hear about these greens in our childhood and when we went to villages. Now we have forgotten about them and depend only on 2-3 cultivated greens,” the visitors said.

After the field visit, participants gathered around the Pachasaale campus, Machnoor village, and witnessed the display exhibition of 40 live orphan greens and found out about their nutritional benefits and cooking uses.

A millet lunch with 20 varieties of orphan green curries stood as a special highlight of the event. Participants of the event gathered together in a meeting for reflections and discussions.

Dr Salome Yesudas, Nutrition Expert, joined virtually and shared her knowledge of uncultivated greens. She remarked: “These greens are abundant natural sources for many micronutrients which are rare to find in other foods and raising awareness about them can help us meet our nutrition needs locally.”

Senior millet farmer and seed keeper Chandramma said “Awareness of these greens has come down in villages. Many farmers are considering them as weeds and using chemical weedicides. Due to this, these uncultivated greens are diminishing in villages,” she said.

Dr Rukmini Rao, DDS Director said: “Almost every woman in this country is anaemic. Malnutrition is a large crisis in our country and good nutrition has become unaffordable and inaccessible to the country’s poor people.”

Dr. Anitha Kumari, Principal Scientist and Head, Vegetable Research Station, Hyderabad said that the real knowledge of these orphan greens must be protected by encouraging the women who still cultivate them and utilise them to feed their children.