Factors Affecting the Contribution of Home Gardens for Family Nutrition and Livelihood: Lessons Learnt from Neluwa DS Division

Abstract

Home gardening is encouraged with the Objective of enhancing of the family nutrition during last decades. This study evaluates 100 home gardens in Neluwa DS division in Gafle district conducted under UNDP-AGSL program with the assistance of the Ministry of Health. Selected home gardens were evaluated using 21 criteria developed by the Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka and each aspect was evaluated using a scale of 0 (not achieved) to 5 (excellent). Information of households were gathered through a questionnaire survey and field evaluation of home gardens done through a direct observation and records. Descriptive statistics, ‘t’ test and Chi-square test were employed to test the relationships between variables. It was revealed that home gardening has supported to provide a part of family nutrition ranging from 10% to 90% while supplementing the family income in Neluwa area irrespective to the size of the home gardens. The study found that young mothers with the children of less than five years are more successful in home gardening as they are spending more time at their homes to take care of the children. Education level and employment of house wives have no significant relationships with the home gardening activities. Main obstacles of home gardening activities were absence of seeds of improved varieties, lack of technical know how, absence of sufficient time and discouragements.