This document discusses nutrition gardens as a way to address nutrition issues in developing economies. Nutrition gardens, or nutri-kitchen gardens, involve growing nutrient-rich crops near homes to meet family nutritional needs year-round. They can significantly contribute to dietary intake of nutrients like vitamin A, iron and calcium. Case studies from countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia show that home gardens improved food security, income, and nutrition. While home gardens face constraints like lack of inputs and land, they provide many benefits if supported through services, technologies, and education. The document recommends further research and programs to scale up home garden approaches.

1. Nutrition garden for food and Nutritional
security – in the context of developing
economy.
By
L. Muralikrishnan,
Scientist,
Division of Agricultural Extension,
ICAR-IARI, New Delhi-12

2.  Why? The focus is on Developing Economy.
(www.harvestplus.or
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4.  How To achieve the Nutrition sensitive issues in the developing world?
 Nutrition garden is the option to address the Nutrition sensitive issues in the developing
world.
What is Nutri-Kitchen garden ?
 It is the growing of nutrient rich crops in residential houses or their vicinity to meet the
requirements of the family all the year around. It is to produce healthy and residue free
foods (Swarup, 2006).
 Nutrition garden produces possible quantity of safe quality nutritious food in vicinity of
the house with direct involvement of family members to supplement the requirement for
food and dietary nutrients. It is supportive to attain food and nutritional security issues.

5. Nutri kitchen gardens: In Pillars of Food Security
Production
Distribution of food items
Food Availability
Income spent on
Food and Local
production
Food Access
Nutrient content
Food safety
human health
Food Utilization
1 2
3 4
Food Stability
Supplies and
Access

6. Importance of Nutritional Garden:
 The home gardens are more successful agricultural interventions as
to adopt under existing conditions – poverty, environment, etc
 It improves the household consumption and improves supply and
diversity in poverty affected households.
 The nutrition garden interventions coupled with nutritional education
enhance the nutritional security and intake of micronutrients has
improved in the condition
 Nutrition garden has two distinct nutritional benefits
 Produced food is for own consumption - mainly vegetables, thereby increasing micronutrient
intake
 Permits expenditure of limited income on other more nutritious foods

7. Cont…
 Traditional leafy vegetables widely consumed as a good source of various
nutrients and tend to grow well in semi-arid areas
 The Traditional leafy vegetables significantly contributed to calcium, iron
and Vitamin A intakes of children under the age group of nine.
 Small scale livestock production (poultry) improves the iron deficiency

8. Home Garden Technologies
 Wide range of small-scale and appropriate technologies available in
the context of developing economy.
 Rain Water Harvesting – rainwater tanks, in field furrows, ridges,
planting pits, mulching, cover crops, micro irrigation, grey water use
– water management and erosion control
 Soil conservation – intercropping, ash, composting, manuring,
mulching, planting pits, crop rotation, fallows, conservation tillage
 Seed saving and plant propagation
 Agroecology/permaculture, trench gardens, storey cropping etc
 Crop protection by border cropping
 Indigenous technologies – often invoke elements of the above or further adaptations
 Often context specific, small scale and simple application - easy for
households to scale out based on resources and demands

9. Support Services
 Appropriate technologies often implemented and supported by
NGOs enhances the integration –
 Prevalence in public and private sector and some NGOs for
transfer of conventional and spillover technologies – often
applied in a top down fashion with little regard for local
socioecoonmic and environmental context
 Infrastructure provision by public sector due to initial, operating
and maintenance costs supports the faster adoption of the
technologies.
 Farmers obtain information from other public sector and ngos
about nutrition sensitive agriculture.

10. Nutrigarden needs:
 Vary from area to area and amongst producers
 Regular supply of water for crops/livestock
 Soil conservation knowledge and strategies
 Horticultural and livestock skills
 Specific and regular support
 Renewable inputs

11. Cases: Homegardens in Sri Lanka is the way to rehabilitation and
restoration of food and nutrition security
• Kandyan Forest Gardens (KFG) or Kandyan Gardens is traditional agro-forestry system
found in central hills in Sri Lanka.
• In that area, two programmes Launched for development of homegardens in 2007 in
order to achieve self-sufficiency in vegetables and to reduce vegetable prices :
• 1. “Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu” (Let us grow and uplift the nation) programme ( 375,000
homegardens)
• 2. “Divi Neguma” (Livelihood Development) programme (1.5 million homegardens)
• It impacted, Food production - 140 kg. of vegetables, 408 kg of fruits, and 118 coconuts in
home gardens in one growing season.
• Total economic value of US $296 per garden per growing season (which is estimated to be
US $296 million) in the country.
(Government of Sri Lanka, 2011)

12.  Homegardens are major source for food in geographically challenged regions such as
island nations and hilly regions.
Homegardens led to 18% of the caloric and 14% of the protein consumption by
households in Kutowinangum, Indonesia and instrumental in reducing hidden hunger.
Homegardens are main source for staple root crops (>50%) in Pacific Islands, Nepal,
Peru, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Yucatan Peninsula
In Cuba, homegarden are used as strategy to increase self-resilience and ensure food
security in the face of economic crisis and political isolation.
Success of homegardens in other countries.

13. Homegardens significantly supplemented household food security
and sustenance of Tajik families during post-soviet era in Tajikistan
(Rowe, 2009)
In Lima, home gardening benefited families living in slums by
increasing availability of nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits
In Kampala, Uganda, after the civil war, urban agriculture
substantially fed the city in non-cereal foods (UNDP, 1996).
In Baghdad, Iraq and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the
1990s, residents have relied on gardening to provide for many of
their nutritional needs (UNDP, 1996)
Cont..

14. Common characters of homegardens
 Are located near the residence
 Contain a diverse plants
 Provide nutrition in various forms such as food crops, fruits, vegetables,
livestock, aquaculture
 Mixed and multi-story cropping with nutri-rich crops
 Production is supplemental to main source for food and income
 Area is small but very intensive and productive
 A production system that any one can easily enter at some level
Michelle and Hanstad (2004), Brownrigg (1985) and Marsh

15. Benefits of home gardening
 Increase availability of food and nutrient sources
 Diversify food sources
 Source of supplementary income (upwards of 20%)
 Enhance employment through additional or off-season activities
 Decrease risk through diversified crops and in-house production
 Recycling water and waste for nutrients
 Maintain or increase biodiversity
 Explore marketability of extra harvests
 Fruit and vegetables are fresh and safe (free from chemical & pesticide residues, microbes,
heavy metals, anti-nutrients).
 Testing site for new introduced crops
 Resting area for backyard livestock
 Grows culturally significant commodities (tribal or cultural specific)
 Way to establish linkage between target population during reconciliation.

16. Nutri Kitchen gardens: Nutritional significance
Very small mixed vegetable gardens can provide a significant percentage of the
recommended dietary allowance for protein (10 to 20 percent), iron (20 percent), calcium
(20 percent), vitamin A (80 percent) and vitamin C (100 percent) (Marsh and Talukder,
1994; AVRDC, 1983-1989).
Nutri-kitchen gardens are specifically designed and components are selected based on
nutritive value, hence their contribution to nutrient share in diet is big.
A study in two household gardens (18.5 and 25.7 m2) measured for 40 and 34 days
respectively, supplied the following % of RDA for a family of five: 8% protein, 28-48% Ca,
21-22 % Fe, 174-177% Vit. A, and 157-160 % Vit. C (Yang, 1981).
Small vegetable gardens meet 13-18% of protein, 33-42% of Ca, 56-82% of Fe, 82-125%
Vit A and 336-374 % Vit. C.
Garden produce is consumed just after harvest which supply higher quantity of nutrients

17. Constraints of home gardening
Limited access to agricultural inputs
Shortage of land and lack of land tenure security
Inadequate access to water
Damage due to insect pests, diseases, animals, and theft
Poor environmental conditions
Lack of knowledge, information, and advisory services
Shortage of family or hired labor
Poor soil fertility and soil erosion
Limited access to quality livestock breeds
Limited marketing opportunities
Excessive post-harvest losses
Inadequate research and development on home gardens
Social and cultural Barriers
Lack of information on nutritional benefits of home gardening
Galhena et al. Agriculture & Food Security 2013,

18. Traditional Homegardens in India
[Das and Das, 2005: Current Science, 89(1): 155-163]
Assam region:

19. Traditional homegardens in Andaman Islands
Pandey et al. (2006); Tropical Ecology 47(2): 251-258
No vegetable component?

20. Recommendations (1)
Some evidence illustrating that homestead food production makes a significant contribution to food
security and incomes.
Some of the issues that need to be addressed include:
1. Systematic research to find out what is happening, where, the types of technologies, institutional
arrangements, impact and lessons emerging. To develop and implement a widespread coherent
programme.
2. A wide range of CSOs are supporting homestead gardening. Develop a programme that can
support and fund a wide range of structures, in order to operate at scale.
 This may require a new cadre of extensionists or allocation of resources by Provincial Departments
of Agriculture to outsource this work - current staff are not geared to support and are not
numerous enough to provide this support.
 The Departments of Agriculture should retain oversight, standardization of training and quality
control;

21. Recommendations (2)
3. Develop the upscaling modalities for this. This is likely to include:
 A community-based modus operandi - using CSOs to train and
support community-level people (experienced growers and innovators)
to advise others - such structures are already well established in the
health sector. Emphasis on Female gardeners and enhancing local
knowledge and innovations (IKS). Further skills support could be
provided by ARC, Provincial Departments of Agriculture as well as
CSOs;
 Use the Community Work Programme or EPWP to fund stipends for
these community-based workers;
 Develop a standardized accredited training for such community-
based workers (eg in vegetables, another in community-based animal
health, another in fruit trees, another in small-stock production) which
can help in career development;

22. Cont….
 Provide access to water - support for rainwater harvesting and use of
grey water. This would be a good investment by government. Support to
maintain soil fertility and avoid erosion is also required preferably using
low external inputs;
 Develop an upscaling or phased role out approach with an inception
phase in a few urban centres and some rural areas (eg a total of 1 urban
and 1 rural area per province), or selecting the worst districts and metros
or those where the homestead producers are concentrated. Develop a
phasing up process building on the elements above.
 Develop a community of practice and mechanism for learning and
sharing of experiences;
 Establish a proper monitoring and evaluation system - including ex-
post impact assessment for the programme which can feed in to the
learning.

23. Conclusion
 Approaches to reducing malnutrition are complementary rather
than mutually exclusive.
 A coherent and multi-sectoral approach including health, food
security and agriculture is, therefore, of prime importance.
 Homegardens are especially important in terms of income and
nutrition across the society
 Suitable crops and agro-technologies are available but need is to
take them the target groups
 Sustainability of the interventions in homegardens is also necessary
to maintain the continuum of food flow from gardens