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AXEL W. DRESCHER
Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany
This presentation emphasises the importance of home gardens for food security of the Zambian and Zimbabwean population. Home gardening is part of the entire food system, which is different in urban, peri-urban and rural areas by various reasons. In the urban context, becoming more important recently, home gardening is part of the urban micro farming system, consisting of many agricultural activities within the cities, including urban forestry, and small scale animal husbandry. The study areas were located in Lusaka as well as in the peri-urban fringe of Lusaka and rural areas of Southern and North-Western Provinces of Zambia and the Masvingo Province in Southern Zimbabwe. The ``typical'' home gardens (small production units near the house with subsistence oriented production) are only to be found in cities, especially near water sources.
Especially in rural areas home gardens are very often far away from the homestead, nearly invisible and overlooked components of the households strategies for sustainable food security. Therefore there is need for a new, more flexible definition of home gardens. Home gardens are considered to represent models of sustainable agricultural production systems for many different reasons. Their contribution to organic waste recycling, high soil fertility, high species diversity and manifold contributions to the social welfare of the people are some of these aspects.
A combined home garden/livelihood-model was designed which shows the interrelationship between the political, cultural, environmental and physical environment, the household and its decision-making and the results of the household activity with respect to home gardening. This model is applicable to any environment and helps to understand why some families do home gardening while others do not. The model can assist to understand at least some of the factors influencing this activity. The household itself is based in the centre of the model. Internal and external factors, e.g. available assets like e.g. labour availability, access or ``entitlement'' to resources, education, occupation, etc. determine the vulnerability of the households and its decision making. Still one major component -- the ``black box'' -- needs to be more elaborated, this is the household decision making itself.
Keywords: Home gardens, household food security, livelihood security, Southern Africa, sustainable production systems
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