Madan Chadha Safe & Healthy Vegetable Foundation (MCSHVF)

"MCSHVF" is established to encourage safe and Healthy vegetable production and consumption through the promotion of urban, peri-urban, kitchen/home garden and school gardens so that people can have healthy body and mind and the community will be productive.

The vegetables play an important role in the global food and nutritional security. Extensive research has revealed their potential role in tackling malnutrition; alleviate nutritional disorders and improving health. Vegetables are the most affordable and sustainable dietary source of vitamins, minerals, plant fibre and other bioactive compounds. The indigenous vegetables (IVs) and underutilized or neglected vegetables are being produced primarily without many inputs because of their adaptation and ability to withstand drought, poor soil conditions and attack of pests and diseases. IVs also fit well in kitchen/home gardens. Though, sporadic efforts on improvement of these vegetables have been undertaken in various countries, no collaborative effort seems to have been made to draw the attention of the international communities and researchers to highlight their rich diversity, regions of availability, efforts on improvement, and enormous medicinal and nutritional uses to which they can be utilized. The IVs are relatively untapped treasure to nutritional and food security. Many nutritionists and social scientists believe that the integration of micronutrient-rich foods into diets is the most sustainable way to alleviate micronutrient malnutrition.

Extending production areas, improving productivity, increasing nutrient supplies, lowering the cost of production, and complementing vegetable supplies during the off-season will also help to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. The World Food Summit Plan of Action also encourages the safe production and use of culturally appropriate, indigenous, and/or underutilized food crops.

Vegetables are the second major consumers of synthetic pesticides after cotton. This makes vegetables unsafe for human consumption due to unacceptable higher levels of pesticide residue. Botanical extracts and biological control agents are long known to help manage diseases and insect-pests. Therefore, such measures should be encouraged and promoted to protect the vegetable crops from pests and diseases to produce safe vegetables.

The Foundation will vigorously promote the concept of home gardens in hospitals, prisons, orphanages, oldage homes, religious places like churches, mosques, gurudwaras, temples; community centers, clubs, missionaries, charity homes, and social service institutes.