PROMOTING VEGETABLE GARDENS A Guidance Note for Country Programmes The purpose of this note is to outline key issues for programmes to consider when designing and implementing a vegetable garden project. Date of publication: April 2018 Table of Contents 2…..Introduction 3…… Objectives of a vegetable garden 4…..Types of vegetable gardens 8….. Key considerations for vegetable garden projects 21….. Scaling up and sustaining vegetable gardens 22….. Monitoring and Evaluation of vegetable gardens 23….. Take home messages 25….. Snapshot of Concern vegetable garden promotion 27….. Key Resources 27….. Endnotes Cover photo: The photo shows farmers working in a shared vegetable garden in a village around Manono, Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo by Cecilia Benda, 2015. 1 PROMOTING VEGETABLE GARDENS Introduction The term vegetable is somewhat arbitrary, as it may or may not comprise different plant parts such as flowers, fruit, stems, leaves, roots, tubers, bark, seeds, and all other plant matters. For this publication we are going to follow Winch’s (2014) definition whereby vegetables are defined as plants being eaten whole or in part, either cooked or raw, and which do not usually constitute the main part of the meal or diet1. A vegetable garden or vegetable plot is a piece of land dedicated to the production of vegetable that are grown either seasonally or throughout the year. They are generally of a relatively small size and run by the members of a small-holder farming household, rather than large-scale and commercial production. Vegetables are a class of foods highly valued from a nutritional point of view because they are rich in minerals and vitamins. Vegetable gardens, therefore, have the po- tential to diversify diets and improve the nutrition of the whole household. They can also generate and diversify income for poor households, as vegetables often fetch good prices in local and re- gional markets. A range of other benefits have also been associated with vegetable gardens, in- cluding contributing to women’s empowerment and even biodiversity. Vegetable gardens are very common in rural (and even peri-urban and urban) communities around the globe, and Concern has supported them in various forms across many countries. De- spite being common, however, vegetable gardening is actually quite complex. In order to be suc- cessful, Concern programmes supporting vegetable gardens must invest the necessary time and resources into good planning, implementation and monitoring and create opportunities to learn and adapt as they go along. The purpose of this Guidance Note is to outline key issues for Concern programmes to consider when designing and implementing a vegetable garden project. It is an update of an earlier Concern technical brief. For any questions or suggestions, please contact your HQ agriculture advisers: Cecilia Benda or Carl Wahl ([email protected] or [email protected]). Objectives of a vegetable garden Vegetables gardens and Concern programmes that support vegetable gardens can have a range of objectives and often more than one. It is important that Concern programmes are clear in the objectives they wish to achieve so they are designed well in consultation with communities. Three common objectives are: Improve food security and nutrition. Vegetable gardens provide food for household con- sumption and complement other staple food crops (maize, sorghum, cassava, etc.). Because they are rich in micronutrients (minerals and vitamins), vegetables provide an excellent nutritional boost to meals made with staple crops (which are usually low in micronutrients but high in energy in the form of carbohydrates). This is particularly important for poor households who tend to rely on a few food crops and mostly starchy staple crops because meat, milk and other animal source foods which are also high in micronutrients are often too expensive. This low diversity of the diet can lead to a state of undernutrition, particularly among children and pregnant women who need to eat a wide variety of nutritious foods to support their active growth and development2. 2 PROMOTING VEGETABLE GARDENS Vegetable gardens, therefore, can improve the food security and nutrition of the whole household by providing a source micronutrients that are often within easy reach of the person preparing meals. But, it is important to remember that most households don’t usually get all their nutrition from consuming the food they grow. They buy or trade in the market to get the other foods they need (like oil, meat, milk), but vegetable gardens can also contribute to household nutrition in this way - by increasing income, as outlined below. Please see, however, some of the limitations to consider in Box 1. Increase and diversify household income. Depending on the season, vegetables can often fetch high prices in the local and regional markets and hence can be sold for an income, providing a good source of livelihood to vulnerable households. To achieve this objective, it will be neces- sary to include a marketing component to the project, and it may be necessary to build skills and awareness not only of the farmers looking to sell, but the potential buyers, including consumers and intermediate merchants. A value chain analysis of different crops with strong consideration of the seasonal aspect of supply and demand will be important. While it is ideal that vegetable gar- dening households consume some of their produce straight from the field, the importance of this income generating dimension is also critical to improve nutrition and wellbeing, not only to help households buy other foods but to cover other households needs, including things like healthcare, latrine materials, or mosquito nets which will also have a positive effect on nutrition. Overall vege- table garden improves household resilience by increasing and diversifying income, providing ex- tra foods to the household hence buffering shocks and stresses that can occur. Promoting women’s empowerment. Vegetable gardens on their own are not likely to lead to women’s empowerment, but if designed well and with complementary activities, they can con- tribute to this in a number of ways. First, women are often in many cultures responsible for the domain of the garden (and men more the domain of the main agricultural field). Many vegetable gardens are actually right near the home where in traditional societies women may spend more time for domestic chores, including preparing meals for the household. Vegetable gardens there- fore represent a potential entry point to support women in a livelihood activity where they already have some scope for decision-making on the utilisation of vegetables and the income earned from their sale. It is important, however, to engage with women and men in this aspect to work through any potential tensions or risks that promoting women in this might create. It is also critical that activities do not increase demands on women’s time or workload, or if they do that they wom- en are aware of this and that the benefits will mostly outweigh the increased workload. Please see the Gender section for more details. 3 PROMOTING VEGETABLE GARDENS Box 1. Being realistic about what vegetable gardens can achieve Despite the huge potential for vegetable gardens to contribute to the nutrition and livelihoods of poor households, the following limitations should be considered: Consumption of some animal source foods (meat, milk, fish, eggs, insects etc.) is still very im- portant, especially for children and pregnant women. This is because it is difficult to get all the essential micronutrients required (particularly iron and calcium) as well as some fats and protein from only plants. Vegetables may be not considered part of the main/traditional diet and therefore less important to address food security compared to staple crops. This may cause farmers dropping out from vegetable production during peak period for productive activities when labour is limited (hunger gap period). However through sensitization and awareness campaigns, vegetables are becom- ing popular and people increasingly appreciate their production. Different vegetables or even consumption of vegetables at all may be a new concept in some communities so a behaviour change element may be required both for the households growing and the potential consumers in the market. Vegetable gardens are often seasonal so even the most successful ones may only provide veg- etables (and income) for part of the year unless the household is able to preserve them (e.g. dry or pickle them) for later consumption (see upcoming Guidance Note on food preservation and processing). Types of vegetables gardens There are different types of vegetables garden, group or individual, mixed groups or not, demon- stration plots, kitchen garden or vegetables produced in the main field, keyhole, bag garden or other small-size types, etc. The choice of which type to promote largely depends on the local con- text, the agro-ecology of the target area, beneficiaries preferences and the objective of the activi- ty. Following, some general recommendations and examples from country programmes. Kitchen gardens are small plots beside the house normally managed by women and used for growing vegetables and fruits for home consumption. These are usually found in tropical and sub-tropical contexts where rainfall falls for the majority of the year such as in DRC, Rwanda and Liberia, or in countries like Malawi and Zambia where a long and abundant rainy season allows the establishment of kitchen gar- dens also through rainwater harvesting systems. Kitchen gardens are promoted mainly for nutritional purposes to ensure that households have a reliable source of Figure 1: Kitchen garden in Rwanda nutritious food near the house to encourage their consumption (Fig. 1). 4 PROMOTING VEGETABLE GARDENS Keyhole gardens or bag/tower-gardens are often used where land is limited, like in urban settings or within the home compound in rural areas, or in more crowded camp situations.