www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org IMPACT OF NUTRITION EDUCATION ON KNOWLEDGE OF TRIBAL WOMEN D. V. SINGH 1 & ANUPAMA SAMAL 2 1 Senior Scientist & Head, Kandhamal, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, India 2 Scientist (Home Science) KVK, Kandhamal, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, India ABSTRACT The study was conducted in purposely selected G. Udayagiri block of Kandhaml district of Odisha to check the nutritional knowledge level regarding various aspects of nutrition. Three villages namely Gambuli, Kalanaju and Siriki were selected purposively because of linkase facility of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra from G. Udayagiri block for the present study. Total 90 tribal women who were ready to participate and interested to be involved in training programme for their self empowerment were purposively selected for this study. Study revealed that tribal women in selected villages were having low awareness in relation to health and nutrition aspect. Majority of the respondents were having improvement habit in the fuel consumption pattern, balanced diet and conservation of nutrients. The impact of the training is that now majority of the tribal women have the smokeless chulha to cook their food. Health problem is also now decreasing after using smokeless chulha. Most of the respondent from the study areas said that they are very comfort with smokeless chulha. It was also noticed that tribal women have motivated and guided efficiently and desirable changes in the behavior of tribal women regarding health and nutrition aspect would be bringing improvement in the nutritional status of the tribal community. KEYWORDS: Education, Effect, Knowledge, Nutrition, Tribal Women Received: Sep 21, 2016; Accepted: Oct 07, 2016; Published: Oct 20, 2016; Paper Id.: IJFSTDEC20161 INTRODUCTION In India food and nutrition problems continue to be formidable. Malnutrition and under nutrition is widely prevalent in the urban, rural, tribal and slums areas of the country, especially amongst vulnerable selection of the population namely the pre-school, school going children, expectant and nursing women. Lack of sanitation hygiene and knowledge about nutrition among the affected groups as well as widespread of resources area the major factors contributing to such nutrition deficiencies. Malnutrition and under nutrition can be overcome by increasing the nutrition knowledge of rural women because a women plays in important role in the selection, preparation and serving of food of the members of the family. Nutritional knowledge have great important in proper management of food, application of balanced diet and specific requirements of different nutrition for people of different age groups. Nutrition education should be practical and adopted to suit the socio- economic conditions, food habits and local food resource. Keeping in view the present study has been undertaken (i) to find out the existing nutritional knowledge in tribal women at various levels. (ii) to develop a nutritional intervention programme for farm women empowerment in tribal area. (iii) to assess the knowledge gain through intervention programme by pre and post training. Original Article International Journal of Food Science and Technology (IJFST) Vol. 6, Issue 4, Dec 2016, 1-6 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.