Assessing the Role and Effectiveness of Kitchen Gardening Toward Food Security in Punjab, Pakistan: a Case of District Bahawalpur
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development ISSN: 1946-3138 (Print) 1946-3146 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjue20 Assessing the role and effectiveness of kitchen gardening toward food security in Punjab, Pakistan: a case of district Bahawalpur Muhammad Mohsin, Muhammad Mushahid Anwar, Farrukh Jamal, Fahad Ajmal & Juergen Breuste To cite this article: Muhammad Mohsin, Muhammad Mushahid Anwar, Farrukh Jamal, Fahad Ajmal & Juergen Breuste (2017) Assessing the role and effectiveness of kitchen gardening toward food security in Punjab, Pakistan: a case of district Bahawalpur, International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 9:1, 64-78, DOI: 10.1080/19463138.2017.1286349 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2017.1286349 © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Published online: 22 Feb 2017. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 803 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tjue20 Download by: [Universitat Salzburg] Date: 15 November 2017, At: 06:43 International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 2017 Vol. 9, No. 1, 64–78, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2017.1286349 Assessing the role and effectiveness of kitchen gardening toward food security in Punjab, Pakistan: a case of district Bahawalpur Muhammad Mohsina*, Muhammad Mushahid Anwarb*, Farrukh Jamalc, Fahad Ajmald and Juergen Breustee aDepartment of Geography, Govt. S.E. College, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan; bDepartment of Geography, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan; cDepartment of Statistics, Govt. S.A. Postgraduate College, Dera Nawab Sahib, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan; dDepartment of Botany, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan; eDepartment of Geography and Geology, University Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria (Received 11 January 2016; accepted 19 January 2017) Food security is one of the leading issues of many governments globally. Kitchen gardening is the innovative project initiated by the Government of Punjab (Pakistan) to provide instant aid to dwellers by self-produced fresh vegetables. The present investigation was conducted in the district Bahawalpur. The objectives were to explore the main benefits of kitchen gardening, to identify the places used for this activity, to identify the growers’ perceptions and to give suggestions to improve the project. Two urban and one rural tehsils of district Bahawalpur were selected as study areas. Secondary data were collected from several sources while primary data gathered through a mobile phone survey and analyzed by applying descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS software. The findings have justified that dominant share of growers have sown the seed kits for vegetables production, mostly for home consumption and was satisfied with the quality and price of seed kit. Most of the growers certified the efficiency of the project in the regular provision of fresh and healthy vegetables. Hence, the project is a successful endeavor and still continuing in the province, benefiting the masses and encouraging urban agriculture. The outcome of the investigation is suggestions to further improve this project. Keywords: Food security; kitchen gardening; urban agriculture; district Bahawalpur; Punjab province Introduction safe food production and secure food supply are Increasing urbanization and food security are critical issues for low-income countries and it is among the key issues of the present era (FAO important to develop all possible methods for the Downloaded by [Universitat Salzburg] at 06:43 15 November 2017 2011). In recent decades, the safe and regular access production and distribution of food (Arshad of food to many rural and poor urban households Shafqat 2012; Cameron & Wright 2014). In has become uncertain, creating concerns of food Germany, innovative forms of urban agriculture, security in many developing countries. Millions of such as Zero-Acreage Farming (ZFarming) are the people around the globe are unable to purchase being practiced. ZFarming involving rooftop gar- or have the access to sufficient food for themselves dens, indoor farms and other building-related forms fi and their families (Nkosi et al. 2014). Therefore, have contributed signi cantly to food supply in *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development 65 addition to providing numerous environmental, important nutrition that might not be within their economic and social benefits (Specht et al. 2014). budget to purchase (Talukder et al. 2001; Heim Major food items such as vegetables and fruits et al. 2009). Kitchen gardening has also proved are considered vital for the rapidly increasing cost-effective and sustainable method for produ- populations of developing countries like Pakistan, cing organic vegetables such as cauliflower, radish India and Bangladesh. Therefore, kitchen gardens and turnip (Titilola et al. 2012; Rani et al. 2013). (or home-based gardens) can play a pivotal role to In Mexico, the house garden is considered a spe- alleviating problems of hunger and malnutrition in cified site for the reproduction of cultural relations these countries. Kitchen gardens have already pro- and plays a key role in family life (Christie 2004). ven to be an important subsidiary source of food in In Benin, vegetable farming has provided a India and Sri Lanka (Halder & Pati 2011; Galhena balanced diet to urban populations and enhanced et al. 2013). farmers’ household income and living standard Literally, ‘Kitchen gardens’ refer to food grown (Allagbé et al. 2014). In low-income housing in or around the house for household use (Evans & areas of urban Penang (Malaysia), kitchen gardens Jespersen 2001). Home gardens may be kitchen have proved a symbol of place, identity and sense garden, a mixed garden, or backyard, farmyard and of belonging for local low-cost flat residents compound garden or homestead garden. Kitchen or (Ghazali 2013). home gardening is an earliest and most extensive With its burgeoning population, food security food production system found throughout the world has now become the major objective of the (Landauer & Brazil 1985;Rowe2009). Government of Pakistan and policymakers have In many parts of the world, the practice of a focused on formulating a sound food policy leading community gardening is widespread as both col- to food security (Tariq et al. 2014). Nevertheless, in lective gardens and individually allocated spaces recent years Pakistan has witnessed increased pov- (Holland 2004). The practice of collective com- erty levels and higher risk of food insecurity in munity gardens is useful and frequently adopted in many areas. For instance, about 12% of the many developed countries (e.g. Australia) as a Potohar district population lacks food security and useful activity but less applicable in countries another 38% are at high risk of it (Abbasi et al. like Pakistan where land ownership patterns and 2014). Because it is a fact that kitchen kitchen utilization highly differ from these countries in gardens have great potential for improving house- terms of individual preferences and existing land hold food security and alleviating micronutrient uses. In Pakistan, people grow vegetables indivi- deficiencies (FAO 2010), the main objectives of dually or on household basis in spaces within their this study is to explore the bene fits of the kitchen possession rather in a collective effort on allotted gardening project, to identify place, area and yield space. Hence, encouraging or enhancing vegetable output of kitchen gardens, and to investigate the Downloaded by [Universitat Salzburg] at 06:43 15 November 2017 gardening at home can play a significant role in grower’s perceptions and suggestions for further improving food security to resource poor rural and improvement to the project. Hence, this study urban households in developing countries like sought to summarize specific benefits of kitchen Pakistan and providing additional sources of gardening reported in the existing literature on fresh and nutritionally rich food products urban agriculture in the context of Punjab province (Asaduzzaman et al. 2011; Galhena 2012). in general and district Bahawalpur in particular. The various social benefits that have emerged from kitchen gardening practices are health and nutrition, enhanced income, self-employment, Kitchen gardening project in Punjab: food security within the household and community background and progress social life (Rehman et al. 2013). Fruits and vege- The kitchen gardening project was initiated by the table production gives households direct access to Government of Punjab in the year of 2010–2011 66 M.M. Anwar et al. Table 1. Brief description of kitchen gardening project in Punjab, Pakistan. Name of the project Upscaling of kitchen gardening in Punjab Location All district of Punjab Sponsoring agency Government of Punjab Project