Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
12
Managing the home garden for food
security and as a germplasm bank
Lewis Enu-Kwesi, Edwin A. Gyasi, and Vincent V. Vordzogbe
Introduction
As has been observed elsewhere, “A major global challenge, especially in develop-
ing countries, is to increase and secure food production for a growing population
while, at the same time, conserving the natural diversity of crops, livestock, trees,
and other life forms in their natural state” (Gyasi, 2002: 245). Promotion of home
gardens on the basis of a sound understanding of their organization or structure and
functioning is a possible way of meeting this challenge.
Simply defined, a home garden is any small parcel of land cultivated in the
immediate neighbourhood of the residence of the cultivator or gardener. The
process of cultivating such land is home gardening. It is done for either pleasure,
or for economic reasons, or for both.
In addition to their small size and nearness to the home or point of consumption,
home gardens are generally characterized by:
•
the cultivation of a diversity of crops including vegetables and spices, food crops,
tree crops, fruits, medicinal plants, and flowers and other ornamental plants
•
a more or less permanent, continuous, or high-intensity cultivation that often
involves multiple cropping, artificial watering of the plants, and high inputs of
labour, manure, household refuse, and other forms of fertilizer.
They include “kitchen” gardens operated in the backyard for the primary purpose
of producing vegetables and other crops that are frequently required by the
kitchen or household of the operator, and other gardens located not too far away.
Some of the plants, notably vegetables, are perishable by nature, others such as
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