Contribution of Home Gardening to Household Food Security: A Case Study of Home Gardeners in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Aims: This study examined the contribution of home gardening to household food security in IgabI Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria.
 Study Design: The study was designed to collect data from 120 home gardeners using well structured questionnaire and personal interview of the gardeners by the researchers.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria between June to July, 2019.
 Methodology: Multi-stage, purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 120 respondents. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as means, frequency distribution, table, percentage and Likert – scale.
 Results: The results showed male (65.83%) in their active age (87.50% are within the age range of 21-50 years) and highly educated (92.50%) with good number of years of experience in home gardening, (80% had over 5years of experience) dominated the practice of home gardening in the study area. The study also revealed that they produced many types of crops, about 32. The most popular crops cultivated were; tomato 91.67%),cowpea(87.50%),groundnut(82.50%),okra(75.00%), pumpkin (70.83%), spinach (70.83%) maize(56.67%),millet(56.67%),sorghum(51.67%), pepper (50.00%) and sweet potato (50.00%).The Likert--scale result showed that all the home gardeners household were food secure and the study established that home gardening does not only contribute to their house hold food supply but also their income. However the home gardening in the study area is faced with problems such as pests attack and diseases infestation (80.00%) and lack of farm inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and farm tools(75.00 %).
 Conclusion: The study revealed that home gardening contributed significantly to the household food security. It is therefore important to integrate home gardening into our farming system been a good tool for achieving food security among households and people should also be sensitize to utilize empty plots of land around their homestead for home gardens.