Home gardens

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The trees of home gardens are visible in this aerial photograph in Indonesia (J.E.M. Arnold)

Home gardens, also known as forest gardens, are found in humid areas. They use inter-cropping to cultivate trees, crops, and livestock on the same land. In Kerala in South India as well as in northeastern India, they are the most common form of land use; they are also found in Indonesia, One example combines coconut, black pepper, cocoa and pineapple. In many African countries, for example Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, gardens are wide spread in rural, periurban and urban areas and they play an essential role for food security. Most well known are the Chaga or Chagga gardens on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. They are an excellent example for agroforestry systems. In many countries women are the main actors in home gardening and food is mainly produced for subsistence. In Nepal, the home garden, literally known in Nepali as Ghar Bagaincha, refers to the traditional land use system around a homestead, where several species of plants are grown and maintained by household members and their products are primarily intended for the family consumption (Shrestha et al., 2002). The term “home garden” is often considered synonymous to the kitchen garden. However, they differ in terms of function, size, diversity, composition and features (Sthapit et al., 2006). In Nepal, 72% of households have home gardens of an area 2-11% of the total land holdings (Gautam et al., 2004). Because of their small size, the government has never identified home gardens as an important unit of food production and it thereby remains neglected from research and development. However, at the household level the system is very important as it is the an important source of quality food and nutrition for the rural poor and, therefore, are important contributors to the household food security and livelihoods of farming communities in Nepal. They are typically cultivated with a mixture of annual and perennial plants that can be harvested on a daily or seasonal basis. Biodiversity that has an immediate value is maintained in home gardens as women and children have easy access to preferred food, and for this reason alone we should promote home gardens as a key element for a healthy way of life. Home gardens, with their intensive and multiple uses, provide a safety net for households when food is scarce. These gardens are not only important sources of food, fodder, fuel, medicines, spices, herbs, flowers, construction materials and income in many countries, they are also important for the in situ conservation of a wide range of unique genetic resources for food and agriculture (Subedi et al., 2004). Many uncultivated, as well as neglected and underutilised species could make an important contribution to the dietary diversity of local communities (Gautam et al., 2004).

These gardens exemplify polyculture, and conserve much crop genetic diversity and heirloom plants that are not found in monocultures. There are now efforts to apply a similar concept in temperate climates (forest gardening).