Thumbnail Image

Home gardens key to improved nutritional well-being

Year of publication 2006

Pages 43

Author Bhattacharjee, L.; Phithayaphone, S.; Nandi, B.K.;Agriculture Group

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Series title RAP Publication

Series number 1020-6221|1014-2789|18194591|0428-9560

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) FAO recognizes that healthy, well-nourished people are both the outcome of successful social and economic development and constitute an essential input to the development process. Achieving nutrition related goals requires that national and sectoral development policies and programmes are complemented by effective community-based action aimed at improving household food security and promoting the year-round consumption of nutritionally adequate diets. These activities are being actively pursued by FAO as part of its field programme. This report provides an account of one such pilot project in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The objective was to promote integrated home gardening, including small livestock and aquaculture. The project activities targeted poor and food-insecure families with under-five-year-old children with moderate or severe undernourishment. Post-project evaluations found increased production of vegetables, fruits, poultry and fish among the targeted households a nd a decline in the rates of undernutrition in children under five years of age. The project demonstrates an effective and sustainable method for improving nutritional standards of low income rural families through integrated household food production, which can be extended to the national level.

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (series)
    Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2020
    Maternal and child diets at the heart of improving nutrition
    2021
    Also available in:
    The 2020 report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the Asia and Pacific region, provides an update on progress towards the 2030 targets (SDGs and WHA) at the regional and country level. Selected indicators look at undernourishment, food insecurity, childhood stunting, wasting and overweight, adult overweight, child minimum acceptable diet, exclusive and continued breastfeeding, and anaemia in women and children. While the region continues to work towards ending all forms of malnutrition and achieving Zero Hunger, progress on food security and nutrition has slowed, and the Asia and Pacific region is not on track to achieving 2030 targets. About 350.6 million people in the Asia and Pacific region are estimated to have been undernourished in 2019, about 51 percent of the global total. An estimated 74.5 million children under five years of age were stunted and a total of 31.5 million were wasted in the Asia and Pacific region. The majority of these children in the region live in Southern Asia with 55.9 million stunted and 25.2 million wasted children. Estimates predict a 14.3 percent increase in the prevalence of moderate or severe wasting among children under 5 years of age, equal to an additional 6.7 million children, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With basic food prices and disposable incomes influencing household decisions on food and dietary intake, they are critical to improve food security and nutrition in the region. However, in the Asia and Pacific region, 1.9 billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet, driven by high prices of fruits, vegetables and dairy products, making it impossible for the poor to achieve healthy diets. In Part 2, the 2020 report promotes a systems approach to healthy maternal and child diets, involving and coordinating institutions and actors in the Food, Water and Sanitation, Health, Social Protection and Education systems, to collectively create the enabling environment for healthy diets. Integration of healthy diets and nutrition-focused Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) mainstreamed throughout these systems will lead to greater uptake and sustainability of healthy behaviours and caregiver’s knowledge.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Policy Brief. Combatting micronutrient deficiencies through home gardens in Sri Lanka 2019
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Vegetables and fruits are rich in micronutrients, which are essential to maintain optimal health and for growth and development. Despite their significance, in Sri Lanka, the average consumption of fruits and vegetables is lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) minimum recommendations. Inadequate availability of micronutrient-rich food at affordable prices is cited as the key reason for low micronutrient intake levels in Sri Lanka. An avenue to enhance consumption of fruits and vegetables is through home gardens. Several studies have highlighted the key role of home gardens in enhancing food security by providing direct access to a variety of nutritionally rich foods, as well as employment and income generation opportunities to households. In Sri Lanka, many crops in existing home gardens are under-utilized, meaning that these species are not widely grown, rarely found in the market and not cultivated commercially, yet are low maintenance, climate resistant and contain high amounts of micronutrients. In this respect, this policy brief suggests that promoting cultivation, harvesting and consumption of these under-utilized food crops in home gardens is a feasible strategy to sustainably reduce micronutrient deficiencies persistent in the Sri Lankan population.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Project
    Integrated Home and School Gardens for Food Security in Myanmar - TCP/MYA/3505 2019
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Myanmar is undergoing a trend of urbanization, bringing new opportunities and challenges, and changing the underlying causes of malnutrition in urban and peri-urban areas. The current project was designed to explore innovative opportunities to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition in Dala and Hlegu Townships, two rapidly changing peri-urban areas in Yangon. The project aimed at improving the diversity and use of nutrient-rich safe foods through a combination of agriculture and nutrition training and the establishment of hydroponic home and school gardens. Target groups included third and fourth grade schoolchildren in five identified schools, teachers/principals, and women from households with school children as well as from households receiving hydroponic gardens.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.