With the global population expected to reach over 9 billion by 2050, there is a continuous need to increase food production

Table of Contents

BY JOSEPH OKPAIRE

Image result for african vegetable farmer with leg — A local farmer in his farm
Source: www.thefifthestate.com.au

Home gardening are found in both rural and urban areas in predominantly small-scale subsistence agricultural systems.

In a search for greener pastures, Mrs. Elizabeth migrated to Lagos with her daughter and young son from the village. She runs a roadside kiosk selling snacks, sweets and other items. Her daughter feeds mainly on rice, porridge and other available cheap staple foods around while the son feeds mainly on ready-to-eat foods from pap to bread and noodles. Her 6year old daughter seems to be growing bigger and over-weight while her son is showing signs of stunting which is a result of malnourishment. Both children have constantly complained of stomach ache and episodic diarrhea. With growing concerns over the health status of her children, Mrs. Elizabeth visited the local health officer and she was told that the kids have constantly been exposed to unhygienic foods and their diet lacks micronutrients and vitamins.

The case scenario is typically the occurrence of an average family living in the urban and peri-urban of cities. These individuals are not able to purchase foods of high quality which contains vitamins, and micronutrients. The staple foods consumed in Nigeria are basically rice, garri, maize, (starchy ready-to-eat foods, etc). These foods contain a very little amount of minerals and vitamins as compared to the nutritional requirement for pregnant women and children.

Hence, individuals living in these areas are prone to consuming ‘’junks’’ and quick-to-eat foods which resulted in obesity and malnourishment. Fresh foods such as vegetables, fruits which contain a high amount of Zinc, calcium, Manganese, Iron, Sodium, and vitamins are rarely found in the diet of low-class earners dwelling in urban and peri-urban areas.

What is the Way out?

Just like Mrs. Elizabeth, many low-income earners dwelling in urban areas are constantly bedeviled by cheap and less nutritious ready-to-eat foods, unhygienic conditions of foods sold in streets and markets, and inability to purchase foods fortified with needed vitamins and micronutrients. Mrs. Elizabeth can actually overcome some of these challenges if she carries out urban or peri-urban agriculture.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) occurs within and surrounding the boundaries of cities throughout the world and includes products from crop and livestock agriculture, fisheries and forestry in the urban and peri-urban area. It also includes non-wood forest products, as well as ecological services provided by agriculture, fisheries, and forestry.

HOME GARDENING

Home gardening is a form of UPA. Home gardening is an age-old practice to supply a diverse range of fruit and vegetables to the home, but its potential has yet to be fully exploited. Home gardening production and consumption practices show great potential to reduce malnutrition and end poverty.

Home gardening is the mixed cropping of fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices and other useful plants as a supplementary source of food and income.

For poor people, household gardens produce can make a critical contribution to the household diet and provide several other benefits, particularly for women and young children. Research has shown that a small garden if managed well, can produce enough vegetables, and the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) contained therein, to nourish a family of four all year-round.

There are a variety of crops that can be cultivated in a household garden. These include Fluted pumpkin, cucumber, Green Amaranth, Paw-paw, water leaves, banana, lettuce, basil, tomato, beans, onion, potato, celery, pepper, carrot, radish, cabbage, red beet, spinach, eggplant, strawberries, squash, etc.

IMPORTANCE OF HOME GARDENING

Home gardening plays the following functions:

a. Home gardening aims to increase food production.

b. It serves as an alternative source of income generation and recreational opportunities.

c. It can contribute to the prevention of micronutrient deficiencies.

d. It helps to enrich the urban environment

e. Helps improve access to consumer markets;

f. Home gardening implies less need for packaging, storage, and transportation of food;

g. It can create potential agricultural jobs and incomes;

h. And most importantly provide non-market access to food for poor consumers;

I. It also increases the availability of fresh, perishable food. It ensures good health and wellbeing for all.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HOME GARDENING IN ATTAINING THE SDGs.

Home gardening contributes to attaining eight of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are:

SDG’S HOME GARDENING
1	End poverty in all its forms		…generate small but significant stream of income, especially for women
2	End hunger, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture		…supply nutritive food and make food production systems more productive and resilient
3	Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at ages		…improve the health of women of reproductive age and young children
4	Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls		…give women more choice and control over productive resources
5	Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all		…spur entrepreneurship, creativity and economic opportunities, particularly for women
6	Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
		…contribute to the greening of rural and urban settlements and greater resilience to disasters.
7	Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns		…have minimal food losses and help to close nutrient cycles.
8	Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts		…strengthen household-level resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters.

TYPES OF HOME GARDENING OPERATION

Image result for types of home gardening — Home garden
Source: www123rf.com

Various types of home gardening operations depend on a group of interlinked factors but it is majorly affected by the availability of land and water. Hence, its operation is a function of the following:

Families that have no access to land normally living in densely populated areas:

Can implement a simple and low-cost technology for growing healthy and safe vegetables on rooftops, terraces or patios without the requirement for soil i.e. micro-gardens or hydroponics.
Or urban micro-gardens are a simple low-cost technology adapted to the high-density areas of urban suburbs. They can be established almost everywhere – in backyards, on flat roof-tops, balconies and even hanging on walls. Micro-gardens are best suitable for urban landless.

Hydroponic micro-farm
Image courtesy of pinterest.com

Families that have access to small-size plots normally living in populated urban areas:

These families can implement a highly intensive cultivation system under localized irrigation methods and small-scale nurseries.

Small scale nursery
image courtesy of homegrownliberty.com

Families that can be integrated into organised growers’ schemes in open urban spaces and peri-urban areas:

It can establish and organize a small-scale allotment scheme. These schemes would aim at the development of intensive commercial horticulture for year-round production of high-quality vegetables and ornamentals as well as intensive fruit tree orchards for local consumption or export.

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HOME GARDENING AND THE SDG’s

Muhammed Alhassan