HOME GARDEN

• A home garden is a micro-environment composed of a multi-species (annual to perennial, root crops to climbers etc), multi-storied and multi-purpose garden situated close to the homestead (Quat, NX, 1996; Watson and Eyzaguirre, 2002; Hodgkin, 2002).
• A home garden refers to the traditional land use system around a homestead, where several species of plants are grown and maintained by the household members and their products are primarily intended for the family consumption.
• The term “home garden” is preferred because it stresses the close relationship between the garden and the social group residing at home.

The Nepalese context

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. The term “home garden” is often considered synonymous to the kitchen garden. However, they differ in terms of function, size, diversity, composition and features.

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. Traditionally home gardens are an important source of quality food and nutrition for the rural poor and, therefore, are important contributors to the food security and livelihoods of farming communities in Nepal.

Besides direct use values, farmers maintain local crop diversity in home gardens for the following reasons:

1) To meet the specific needs of local ethnic food culture

2) To increase the options of availability of fresh leafy vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits etc., at the household level

3) For easy access to fresh food as refrigerators are an uncommon option for preservation

4) To save money by reducing expenses on daily needs, especially condiments

5) To improve self-reliance, as access to markets is difficult in remote areas

6) To improve access to low cost sources of vitamins and minerals

7) To increase the variety of vegetables, fruits, etc. to ensure a healthy, functional level of nutrition (e.g. antioxidants, carotenoids, phenolics, dietary fibers and foods with low glycaemic index) (Sthapit et al., 2004).