Assessment of the contribution of home garden and its component on household income and home garden income of disadvantaged groups (DAGs) in Jhapa district of Nepal

Nepalese agriculture is subsistence based and furthermore, farms are getting smaller and subsistence farm families are on the rise.Home garden, traditional land use system around a homestead, where several species of plants are grown along with livestock. Home garden provides fruits and vegetables to the household with direct access to important nutrients that may not be readily available or within their economic reach. A study was conducted in three VDCs of Jhapa namely; Dharampur, Dangibari and Dhaijan to assess the contribution of home garden to total household income. The study reveled that among the three VDCs total own land, total plant species, were found significant and others were not significant. Mean of total plant species was found 42 and significant (P=0.5) among the VDCs. The home garden contribution on annual household income was 19.23% and livestock component was identified as most profitable component as it contributes 50.92% of home garden incomes followed by vegetable component (25.02%). The total household income was found higher in home garden practitioner compared to the non-practitioner household but it was not statistically significant. It was found that the mean annual income from home garden was NRs 37697.24 in practitioner household and significant (P=0.05). Among the home garden components the annual income was found highest in livestock component (NRs. 19197.77) followed by vegetable component (NRs. 9434.44). The annual income from home garden components such as vegetables, fruits and livestock components were found significant and higher in practitioner household whereas annual income from poultry and other component was not significant and higher in non-practitioner household The research suggested to promote home garden in order to increase the food security situation and income of the farmers.