The Contribution of Home Food Gardening Program to Household Food Security in Indonesia: A Review

Abstract

Home gardens are an essential component of the local food system and family farming worldwide. In Indonesia, a home food gardening program was initiated in the early 2010s to optimally utilize home yards for improving the adequacy of food consumption and nutrition intake of households. In the present challenging situation of Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a growing interest in home gardens to help mitigate food insecurity caused by food supply chain disruptions and the emergence of physical and economic barriers that limit access to food. This paper is a review of pertinent literature to find out the characteristics of home gardens and home gardening program in Indonesia and then examine their contribution to each pillar of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. The experiences of home gardens worldwide are reviewed to understand the global context of home gardens and food security. Literature reviews found a positive impact of home gardening program on food availability, access, and utilization. However, improving food stability through a home food gardening program is still a challenging task. This finding implies that the positive contribution of the home food gardening program to household food security is largely limited to the program period. Nevertheless, the program is still an important strategy to address food insecurity and nutrition deficiency of low-income households. Future research should assess factors affecting the sustainability of the program to derive viable models applicable in diverse circumstances. There is a need for research to assess the value and importance of home gardens as a coping strategy to reduce vulnerability and food insecurity in the present global Covid-19 pandemic.

Home gardening in sub‐Saharan Africa: A scoping review on practices and nutrition outcomes in rural Burkina Faso and Kenya

“…However, not for all categories of food security positive associations were found, that is, availability and access (Dillon et al, 2018). A recent study from India showed positive effects of home gardens on food security in terms of food availability, access, and utilization but found no improvement in terms of food stability (Saediman et al, 2021). For diet quality and nutritional status of women and children, the present review shows positive impacts of home gardens for Burkina Faso and contrasting findings for Kenya.…”

“…Indeed, diversified home gardens provide an opportunity to buffer the quantitative harvest losses and the qualitative nutrient dilution in major staple crops, which are the consequences of climate change-related weather phenomena and increased ambient CO 2 concentrations, respectively (Myers et al, 2017). The limited effects of home gardening on nutritional status found by previous studies have been attributed to short intervention periods, low participation rates, and insufficient setup of home gardens (Kumar et al, 2018;Olney et al, 2015;Saediman et al, 2021). Kumar et al (2018) hypothesized that education, information, and market linkage could assist households in increasing their horticultural production and improving their nutrition.…”

The Impact of Natural Disasters on Smallholders

“…In addition to the main staple foods of rice, corn, sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes, other foodstuffs are still consumed by some communities, such as sago. Rice Production in Indragiri Hilir Regency in 2015 for rice fields and rice fields amounted to 111,318 and 949.19 tons, among them [22], [23], [28]- [30].…”

The relationship of the participation of rice farmers in managing water resources to rice production during the Covid 19 pandemic

“…It can cause food insecurity, unemployment, and poverty [2,3]. This condition is exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected all sectors of the economy as a result of the implementation of social distancing and lockdowns, thus disrupting the food supply system, which can exacerbate malnutrition and malnutrition due to increasingly limited access to food [4][5][6][7].…”