'Home Gardens' Can Tackle Poverty, Need Modernisation: Scientists

KOLKATA: Can gardens fight climate change in India? Actually, home gardens (HGs) in rural areas can be strategically managed to tackle poverty, build resilience to climate change and ensure food security, say Indian scientists.

But lack of higher education, science-driven planning and modern approach is hindering home-garden owners from deriving proper benefits.

A form of agroforestry practised in lands adjoining residences in villages, HGs consist of multiple-farming components, such as crops, trees, shrubs, livestock and fishery, which to their keepers are crucial for livelihood, food security and ecosystem services. It is said home gardening is presumably the oldest land use activity next only to shifting cultivation.

Though HGs have been discussed and studied internationally since the 1950s, the concept has not been widely researched especially in the context of rural India, said Joyashree Roy, a contributor to the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

These complex sustainable land use systems are quite prominent in India's neighbourhood, particularly in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In fact, in the island nation, HGs cover about 14 percent of the total area of the country.

"Indian agriculture is plagued by low productivity and this is more so in the dry zones where there is a water shortage and/or poor irrigation facilities, like in West Bengal's West Midnapore district," Roy, coordinator of the Global Change Programme, Jadavpur University here, told IANS about the conclusions ahead of publication.

"In these areas of the country, HGs are important environmentally and economically. They can have a cushioning effect from adverse effects of climate change and improve food security of households," she said.

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