Year: 2016 | Month: June | Volume 2 | Issue 1

Household Food Security through Kitchen Garden: A Practically Workable Step by KVKs in U.P. State

Nimisha Awasthi Anjali Sahu Chandrakala and A.K. Singh
DOI:Coming Soon

Abstract:

Continuously increasing food prices of basic kitchen items, fruits and vegetables the poor and fixed income groups are suffering from the decreasing real incomes and purchasing power. The marginal increase in the income of the poor people to enable them to gain access to food and improve their nutrition is the need of the present time. The kitchen garden falls under bio-intensive and participatory innovation which can provide year round availability, access and consumption of adequate amount and varieties which supply not only the calorific demands but also the micronutrients by the resource poor. One of the easiest ways of ensuring access to a healthy diet that contains adequate macro- and micronutrients is to produce many different kinds of foods in the home garden. This is especially important in rural areas where people have limited income-earning opportunities and poor access to markets. Kitchen gardening contributes to household food security by providing direct access to food that can be harvested, prepared and fed to family members, often on a daily basis. Home gardens are also becoming an increasingly important source of food and income for poor households in peri-urban and urban areas. Kitchen gardens can be grown in the empty space available at the backyard of the house or a group of women can come together, identify a common place or land and grow desired vegetables, fruits, cereals etc that can benefit the women and community as a whole (Christensen, 2011). There are many social benefits that have emerged from kitchen gardening practices; better health and nutrition, increased income, employment, food security within the household, and enhance in community social life.

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