Home gardens for food security (journal)

Home gardens: a promising approach to enhance household food security and wellbeing

This paper first examines definitions and characteristics of home gardens and then provides a global review of their social, economic, and environmental contributions to communities in various socio-economic contexts. Home garden research covers Africa, Asia, and Latin America; studies recognize positive impacts on food insecurity and malnutrition, income and livelihoods, and ecosystem services. However, only a handful of case studies were found on post-crisis settings. This review then investigates the home garden experiences of post-conflict Sri Lanka, where home gardening has been practiced for centuries. While emphasizing multiple benefits, the authors also highlight constraints to home garden food production. They emphasize the need for more research to appraise the role of home gardens, their economic value and their impacts on food security, nutrition, economic growth, and gender issues.