THE ROLE OF THE HOME GARDEN:
FIRST HOME GARDEN VISIT
Objective
By the end of this session, field workers will be able to understand the importance of the home garden in the daily lives of households.
FIGURE 1.1
The home garden produces many different things: food, income, fuel for cooking, herbs, spices and flowers
OVERVIEW
The home garden is an extremely important piece of land in Africa. As its name suggests, it can be located either around or near the home, but frequently it is located close or adjacent to a permanent source of water, such as a river, pond or swamp. The home garden is often one of several field systems operated by a rural household. In peri-urban and urban areas, or in places where land is scarce, the home garden may be the only cultivated plot.
African home gardens vary, depending on agro-ecological, climatic and cultural factors. In the humid and subhumid areas of central and West Africa, a home garden often includes a permanent agricultural plot or forest garden that contains perennial and annual crops. In some cases, the garden surrounds the homestead and paths lead to other field systems and production units devoted to annual crops for the market and home consumption. In other cases, the garden is located at a distance from the homestead, but close to a water source.
The biological diversity and complexity of home gardens decline with the transition from humid areas, where annual rainfall exceeds 1 100 mm, to semi-arid and arid regions where annual rainfalls range from 500 to 900 mm, to 250 to 500 mm in the Sahelian zones. Insufficient water is a major constraint to successful gardening in dry areas, yet even in these areas, gardening is possible. Some crops can be grown in the dry periods through appropriate soil management, and with cheap and effective solutions for harvesting and storing water. For more detailed information on home gardens in Africa, see Information Sheet 1, "Definition and concept of home gardens in Africa".
The home garden visit discussed in this session will help participating field workers gain an understanding of:
ACTIVITIES
The trainer visits the community and, in consultation with community leaders and households, selects a number of households with well-developed gardens and an equal number with not-well-developed gardens. The number of home gardens selected will depend on the number of groups of field workers participating in the programme. The trainer explains the purpose of the visit and makes appointments for home garden visits. Special care should be taken to include households that are headed by women.
Discussion. After introducing the aims of the session and defining the objectives for the first home garden visit, the trainer facilitates a discussion among the field workers on the following points:
The field workers then share their views and experiences on the topics.
Preparation for the field visit. The trainer prepares the participants for the field visit by developing a preliminary checklist, which is similar to Checklist 1 but incorporates questions that are relevant to the local situation. He or she then divides the field workers into small groups of about five or six, with each group having a representative mix of field workers from the agriculture, nutrition or health, community development and education sectors, as well as an equal ratio of men and women, if possible. The group of field workers constituted at the beginning of the course should work as a team throughout the theoretical classes and practical field sessions of the training course. In all, there will be three separate home garden or field visits during the training course.
Planning the field visit. The trainer presents the different planning stages in preparation for the fieldwork. These include:
The trainer asks the participants to identify the objectives of their first field visit. This may include identifying:
Once the participants have reached an agreement on the objectives of the field visit, they need to identify what information they need and how they will gather this information according to the above planning guide. During the first field visit, participants will conduct key informant (village representatives) and household (husband, wife, children) interviews.
Review and adaptation of the checklist. The trainer distributes Checklist 1 to the field workers and explains its purpose. It contains a list of open-ended questions about given issues. Some interviewers prefer to have detailed checklists so they do not forget what they want to ask, while others feel more comfortable with only a broad outline. In household enquiries, a checklist allows more flexibility than a questionnaire, because the conversation tends to be more free flowing and gives the interviewee the opportunity to bring up issues not anticipated by the interviewer. The trainer then asks the participants to consider whether or not the checklist adequately covers the information needed to meet the objectives of the field visit.
Note: The checklists in this manual are meant to be guides and do not prescribe questions or issues.
Interacting with the community. After participants introduce themselves and explain the purpose of their visit, a good starting point is to ask about the farmer's present activities. Other good introductory questions include ones about general aspects of the community, such as the number of households in the village, existing services and infrastructure, and main crops grown (see Checklist for local representatives/leaders). Field workers must determine the mood of the discussion before asking more sensitive questions, such as those concerning the types of food eaten, the number of meals eaten daily, and whether or not enough food is produced for household consumption needs.
Questions and issues on the checklist should be discussed in a relaxed manner. While ensuring that all the elements of the checklist are covered, field workers must also make community members feel at ease and able to express their opinions freely. Avoid asking leading questions (questions that suggest the response the interviewer desires; questions that can be answered with a "yes" or "no"; or questions that do not move the discussion to a deeper level). Good interviewers ask questions that focus and deepen their own knowledge and the knowledge of the interviewee (e.g. instead of asking, "Do you grow vegetables?" an interviewer asks, "What vegetables did you grow this year? What varieties? Why did you plant these in this location?"). Questions that begin with the words why, who, what, where, when and how are usually good at bringing out details.
Field workers' attitudes towards the community. Before field workers can assist a community, they must give local people the opportunity to describe how they do things, what they know and what they want. Therefore, field workers should strive to understand the local situation, and facilitate and support communities' own efforts to find and implement solutions. As outsiders, field workers are listeners and facilitators rather than teachers and experts. They observe, ask questions, listen and gently probe issues requiring clarification. In doing so, they can provide local people with the opportunity to analyse their own problems. This respectful stance generally leads to improved rapport and collaboration between community members and field workers. In this way, field workers and community members can combine knowledge and expertise, and work together to find solutions.
Group preparation for the fieldwork. There will be three field visits during this training course. Each group of field workers should appoint its facilitator who can introduce the group to the community and to households, explain the purpose of the visit and open communication with household members. Other group members will facilitate when issues arise in their area of expertise. The group also selects a recorder, who should carefully write down all responses by community members during the discussion. To give everyone a chance to practise the different roles of facilitation and recording, the tasks can be rotated among team members during the three field visits.
Organizational aspects of the fieldwork. The group starts the field visit by calling on the local leaders and meeting with a group of community members before visiting areas of interest and households.
First home garden visit. The first home garden visit gives the participants a basic understanding of the structure, functions, limitations and potentials of home gardens in the area. After the trainer has covered the preparatory and organizational aspects of the field visit, the group proceeds to the community meeting point, where the group facilitator introduces the team and explains the purpose of the visit.
The field workers begin by asking general questions of village representatives before proceeding to specific home gardens.2 As they walk through the village and the home gardens, the field workers can discuss with the villagers what they are seeing (e.g. soil, rivers, crops, housing, water wells, sanitary facilities, health centres and schools). This is called a transect walk and can provide field workers with a cross-section of the area. A transect walk can also be repeated with different community members, such as groups of men, or of village elders or of young people, to reflect upon gender- or age-based differences in activities or access to resources (for more details, see Session 8, "Promotion of home gardens for better nutrition").
Small group discussion. Participants return to the training venue to summarize their findings, organizing the information by type of household (i.e. those with well-developed gardens and those with not-well-developed gardens).
Whole group discussion. Each group presents its findings in plenary followed by discussions. The trainer asks groups to compare the key differences observed between the well-developed and the not-well-developed home gardens, and encourages field workers to discuss the contribution that home gardening makes to family food supplies in general and to specific families' food supplies in particular. At the end of the session, the trainer summarizes the findings.
MATERIALS REQUIRED
CHECKLIST 1:
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE HOME GARDEN
Name of recorder: ............................... |
Date: .................................................. |
Name of village: ................................... |
Name of household: ......................... |
Checklist for local representatives/leaders
These items should be discussed during the initial meeting with the community heads and other representatives from the community.
1. Number of households in the village:
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2. Average size of households:
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3. Climate/rainfall patterns:
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4. Location of village (proximity to tarmac road, district and provincial centres, markets, public transportation):
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5. Facilities found in the village (e.g. schools, health centres, agricultural extension centres):
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6. Types of permanent committees or local community groups (e.g. savings groups, women's organizations, informal self-help groups):
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7. Source of water and its availability:
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8. Different food production systems:
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a) What are the major food crops?
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b) What are the most important cash crops?
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c) What are the major vegetables grown?
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d) What percentage of households grows vegetables in a home garden during the rainy season?
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e) What percentage of households has dry-season gardens? ............................................
f) What percentage of households has fruit-trees?
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g) What percentage of households collects foods from the forest?
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h) What livestock is kept?
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i) What percentage of households keeps each type of livestock?
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j) What percentage of households undertakes fishing?
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9. What are other income-generating activities?
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Checklist 1 for household interviews
The participants ask the household members to show them around their home garden, taking careful note of the surroundings (including the type of home, its utility areas and land use, the types of crops grown around the home and signs of illness or undernutrition in the children). For every observation made, the field workers should write down two things: (1) their observation and (2) their interpretation of what it means. It is important that they cross-check their observations and findings with information from discussions with other households and with the opinions of other field workers. While doing this, they should ask household members the following questions:
1. What are the main uses of the home garden?
Amenity area |
Size in square metres or number of plants |
Rest or meeting place |
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Shade trees |
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Utility area |
Description of facilities or processes |
Animal shed |
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Compost |
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Crop drying and processing |
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Fence |
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Storage sheds |
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Water point or reservoir |
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Woodlot |
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Other (specify): |
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Economic or production area |
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Cash crop area |
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Food crop area |
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Plant nursery |
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Other (specify): |
2. Which of the following crops do you grow in the home garden?
Crop |
Season |
Use of produce | |||
Wet season |
Dry season |
% eaten by family |
Other S = sale B = barter | ||
Coconut |
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Oil-palm |
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Sunflower seed |
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Other oil crops (specify): |
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Cassava |
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Sweet potato |
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Yam |
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Other root or tuber crops (specify): |
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Cowpea |
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Groundnut |
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Pigeon pea |
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Other legumes (specify): |
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Eggplant |
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Okra |
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Pepper |
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Tomato |
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Leafy vegetables (specify): |
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Banana |
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Mango |
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Papaya |
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Plantain |
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Other fruits (specify): |
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3. Do you keep animals? Which ones?
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4. How many household members are there?
a) Adults: ...............
b) Children (list children under 15 years old and their ages): ...................................
5. Who works:
a) on the farm?
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b) in the home garden?
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6. Who decides what is grown:
a) on the farm?
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b) in the home garden?
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7. Who manages the day-to-day activities:
a) on the farm?
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b) in the home garden?
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8. Which foods do you eat on a daily basis?
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9. Which of these foods come from the home garden?
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10. Which major foods do you purchase?
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11. Give three reasons why the home garden is important.
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12. What are the three most important problems you have in producing a greater variety of foods in the home garden?
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13. What changes/improvements would you like to make to produce a greater variety of foods?
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Priority messages |
1 |
2 |
The home garden is an important land unit for African households because it contributes significantly to household food security
In many humid and subhumid areas of Africa, home gardens are a common feature of the food production system. Because of lack of water, they are less frequently cultivated in Africa's semi-arid and arid zones.
In most African communities, people rely on one or two staple crops such as maize, millet, sorghum, rice, teff, cassava, yam, sweet potato, plantain and enset. These crops tend to provide the bulk (about 60 to 80 percent) of the energy intake of household members. Home garden foods supplement staple crops and add variety and nutritional value to the diet. They typically include roots and tubers, green leafy vegetables, legumes and fruits, which are rich in micronutrients - such as vitamins A and C, iron and, sometimes, vitamin B - and in some cases contain appreciable amounts of protein and oil/fat.
Home garden foods also have an important "safety net" function. During the lean season, when the staple foods have been depleted and before the new harvest is ready, home garden foods can augment or replenish family food supplies. Unlike field crops, home garden foods can be cultivated and made available for family consumption year round, if there is enough water available. For a detailed discussion of the factors that affect household food security and nutrition, see Session 4.
A well-developed home garden has multiple functions
Well-developed home gardens can be found on walks through most villages. Local households with well-developed home gardens possess the ideas, skills and resources to produce a variety of crops, including some staples, roots and tubers, legumes, vegetables and fruits, as well as livestock and, sometimes, fish. They know how to layer plants, combining tall plants with shorter plants, as well as plants that mature at different times. Their animals consume plants from the home garden and return nutrients to the soil in their manure. In addition to producing food, these gardens provide income from the sale of produce, inputs for farm development activities, and non-food items including spices, herbs and medicinal plants, plus they provide space for processing, preparation and storage of food.
Income from the sale of home garden produce. The sale of home garden produce can make a substantial contribution to household income, especially during seasons when other sources of employment and income are limited or harvests are reduced by natural disasters (e.g. floods, outbreaks of pests or animal disease, or personal illnesses). At these times, income from a home garden can be used to purchase food items that the family cannot produce, thus adding variety to meals and supplementing production. Home garden income can pay for daily essentials and services, such as soap, clothes, school fees, medicines and farm inputs that cannot be produced by the household.
Inputs for farm development activities. Important farm development activities take place in home gardens and generate inputs for other farming activities. For example, a home garden can produce planting materials, such as sweet potato vines, cassava cuttings, fruit-tree seedlings and vegetable seeds. When animals are part of a home garden (e.g. sheep, goats, poultry and perhaps cattle and pigs), they supply food, income, manure and draught power. The animals, in turn, benefit from unused plant residues, such as the stalks of cereals, vegetables and legumes. The home garden is also a place for experimenting with new crops and farming techniques.
Non-food items. Where climatic patterns allow and where they are culturally relevant, non-food items such as medicinal herbs, spices and flowers are produced. Home garden trees and shrubs provide shade and act as natural windbreaks and barriers to scavenging animals, but they also can produce fencing and building materials, and fuelwood.
Processing and storage areas. The home garden is also a place where processing and storage activities may occur. In order to have a stable, year-round supply of cereal and legume crops from the field, households need adequate storage and processing facilities. Storage structures for cereals and legumes are often located within the homestead and must be appropriately constructed in order to prevent food losses caused by insects, rats and other pests, and nutritional deterioration resulting from fungi and food rot.
FIGURE 1.2
African home garden
2 The first home garden visit may have to start at the homestead, followed by a visit to the garden if the garden is situated far from the home.
