Home garden interventions in crisis and emergency settings

Abstract

Homes gardens are a key source of food security and micronutrient-rich fruits and vegetables and are promoted by aid organizations to help households cope in humanitarian emergencies. However, there is a strong divide between the popularity of home gardens among practitioners and the academic evidence of its nutritional, economic, social and political outcomes. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the evidence about home garden interventions in crisis settings using a three-pronged approach, triangulating evidence from academic literature, expert discussion (World Café) and a practitioner survey. Our findings show a significant gap between existing research evidence on one hand, and the needs and current practices on the other, particularly where theories and impact pathways of home garden interventions might not hold in crises-affected settings.

Home food gardening in modern cities: advances, issues, and future perspectives

“…Additionally, the selection of HFG varieties depends on climates, seasons, available spaces and other conditions (Baliki et al, 2023;Cruz et al, 2023). For instance, some heat-tolerant vegetables like water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.)…”

“…In situations where space is no allotment, urban gardeners may resort to creating small-scale gardens like roof gardens, and implementing HFG with domestic cultivated containers (Burgin, 2018;Baliki et al, 2023). But urban individuals usually have no soil in their homes.…”

“…Actually, HFG is a kind of smallscale farming implemented within the urban areas or rural areas, and its products are mainly used for self-consumption rather than for profit. Additionally, there is a cross relationship between HFG and indoor farming, because HFG can be carried out indoors (e.g., kitchen windowsills, and bay windows) or in open spaces (e.g., backyards, and rooftops) (Ghosh, 2014;Degefa et al, 2021;Mullins et al, 2021;Hong and Zimmerer, 2022;Richardson and Arlotta, 2022;Baliki et al, 2023;Cruz et al, 2023;Ma et al, 2023;Ezzeddin et al, 2024).…”

“…Furthermore, they have exposed the fragility of food supply chains and highlighted the shortcomings of long food mileage in urban and urbanizing areas, thereby profoundly derailing civic sustenance availability worldwide (Erokhin and Gao, 2020;Laborde et al, 2020;Basu et al, 2021;Cerda et al, 2022;Godrich et al, 2022;Turnšek et al, 2022). Especially in populous cities, the availability of fresh and nutritious vegetables has become a major concern for urban inhabitants, especially those belonging to marginalized and mid-to low-income populations (Theodorou et al, 2021;Baliki et al, 2023;Ma et al, 2023). The precarious or totally disrupted food supply chains caused huge panic among urban denizens, stimulating them to empty municipal grocery stores or supermarket shelves in proximity (Cattivelli, 2022).…”

“…The unexpected epidemic brought HFG to the public's attention (Music et al, 2022). Numerous urban residents and policymakers are deeply aware of the significance and necessity of self-sufficiency of inexpensive sources of high quality and nutritious produce in closed urban residential areas for emergencies (Aditya and Zakiah, 2022;Cattivelli, 2022;Turnšek et al, 2022;Baliki et al, 2023;Perez-Lugones et al, 2023). Within this crisis, peoples' interest and participation in HFG that is lack of focus prior to the COVID-19 pandemic has substantially enhanced, making HFG are becoming trendy on residential compounds and apartment blocks in many countries or territories like China, American, Indonesia, Canada, Slovenia, Norway, Estonia, Switzerland, Iceland and others (Mullins et al, 2021;Aditya and Zakiah, 2022;Kim et al, 2022;Music et al, 2022;Turnšek et al, 2022;Ma et al, 2023;Perez-Lugones et al, 2023).…”