Mario Bautista
Over the years, Nigerians have always been encouraged to go into farming. This is because agriculture provides food, employment opportunities, industrial raw materials, forex exchange, and serves as a veritable mechanism for a favourable environment for mankind. Farming can be practised on a micro or macro level. The importance of subsistence farming, through home garnening, came under focus in the topic, “The Beauty of Home Gardening”, shared by Dr. Olubukola Adenubi, who is an Associate Professor, veterinarian, and a columnist with FarmingFarmersFarms; a specialised online agricultural newspaper, of which I serve as its Editor-in-Chief.
According to Adenubi, Nigeria, with the population of about 233,192,207, based on the latest United Nations data, would grow to over 377 million people by 2050 because half of its population are under the age of 19 years, and are just coming into the child-bearing age. It is revealed that the country is facing some challenges such as relatively weak monetary policy tightening, infrastructure gaps, weak diversification to non-oil revenues, weak job and entrepreneurial prospects, and consequent mass emigration (‘Japa’) of mostly the youthful population, kidnapping for ransom, and herder-farmer clashes, which have caused many people to abandon their farms.
For Nigeria to strive to meet some of the key 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – SDG 1, No poverty; SDG 2, Zero hunger; and SDG 3, Good health and well-being; there must be a deliberate interest to strengthen and increase local food production, leveraging on the country’s massive market size, good climate, rich flora and fauna, and hardworking citizens. As such, much attention should be paid towards looking into home gardens, as a means to improve household food security and nutrition. Now, what is a home garden? It is simply an outdoor space, which may be around the household or within walking distance from the family home, designated for the cultivation of plants and other forms of nature.
The Associate Professor said having a home garden has several economic, socio-cultural, health and environmental benefits. Firstly, home garden requires a small area of land, which can be utilised for raised bed, container, square foot, hanging, vertical, greenhouse, traditional in-ground, or modern soil-less gardening. Since the garden is located close-by, it is usually more secure, convenient, and easily accessible. Though home garden may not provide a main source of income, it could give a supplementary plan for sustainability, as proceeds from the sale of the fruits, vegetables and livestock products may be used to purchase other food items needed in the home.
Secondly, home gardening is not capital or labour-intensive, as the first source of labour is usually family members such as the grandparent, father, mother, uncle, aunt, children, and requires simple technology. Any person, regardless of age, gender, or status, can easily venture into it at some level. Thirdly, home gardens provide easy access to fresh plant and animal food sources, adding substantially to the family energy and nutritive requirements. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 35% of the fatalities worldwide are caused by factors attributed to nutritional and metabolic diseases and in particular, low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) face a heavy burden of malnutrition.
Fourthly, the home garden serves as some form of fun, exercise and leisure activities for the family. Hence, making children aware of their environment, through home gardening, it can assist them in developing proficiency related to plants and garden practices, and animal handling and care, ultimately becoming better home and environment managers. They can develop love for nature, love for fellow human beings, and love for the environment. By their involvement in the food production process, including land preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting, and marketing, they are able know some basic mathematical calculations and life skills, thus taking them away from social vices.
Environmental benefits of home gardens serve to initiate and utilise eco-friendly approaches for food production while conserving the rich diversity and composition of species, and the vast distribution of flora and fauna – all maintaining a symbiotic relationship. In addition, pollination, the abundance of plant and animal litter and continuous recycling of organic soil matter contributes to a highly efficient nutrient cycling system, reduction of soil erosion and land conservation. To make this a reality, governments at all levels need to empower households across Nigeria to engage in home gardening to create avenues for entrepreneurship, economic growth, women and youth development, as well as rural development, Adenubi revealed.
Beyond this, timely and periodic information need to be given to users, strengthening of extension and advisory services, giving more access to agricultural inputs such as seeds, planting material, tools to backyard farmers, and not to only those who engage in large- or small-scale farming, and reducing the high interest rates of agricultural loans. On a final note, the don cautions that; “If we fail to handle agriculture as a key success to our economy, we will keep depending on importation of finished products that other countries used our raw materials to make”. This is key, and buttresses the point that home gardening can really boost farming.
