Development of home garden model for year round production and consumption for improving resource-poor household food security in Bangladesh

The government of Bangladesh has long been striving to increase food security and to reduce poverty and malnutrition. In this regard, home gardens can play an important role in providing enhanced food supply and increased diversity of food to some extent. Studies on niche/ecosystem based homestead gardening were carried out at Lahirirhat Farming Systems Research and Development site, Rangpur under the On-Farm Research Division of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute during 2008-2009, resulting in the development of a year round production model, known as the Rangpur (Syedpur) model, for Tista Meander Floodplain agro-ecological region of Bangladesh. The objective of the study was to utilize the homestead resources in scientific ways for producing fresh vegetables and fruits over space and time and to enhance the nutritional supplies for the family throughout the year. A total of 12 households were selected from landless (no cultivable land), marginal (0.2-0.6 ha) and small (0.61-1.0 ha) farmer groups and seven production niches were intervened for round the year production following the Rangpur model. The niches were open sunny place, roof top, trellis, fence, boundary, marshy land and partially shady place. After the intervention, the highest amount of vegetables was produced by the small farmer groups (511 kg/year) followed by marginal (499 kg/year) and landless (422 kg/year) farmers. The yearly vegetable requirements of farmers were largely met by the homestead garden with a supply between 55 and 79 kg/head/year compared with the bench mark level of 21-30 kg/head/year before the intervention. The highest total income (BDT 5030/year) and net income (BDT 4290/year) were obtained from homestead at small farmers followed by marginal and landless farmers. From this study it is evident that the target farmers were able to fulfill their daily requirement of vegetables in most parts of the year by following the Rangpur model. This suggests an increase in food security and a reduction in malnutrition of farm families in the target households of Rangpur region in Bangladesh. The upscaling of the production model based on niche/ecosystem in different poverty stricken regions of Bangladesh is recommended to achieve food security and malnutrition reduction.