HOME GARDENS AS A LIVELIHOOD STRATEGY IN A COASTAL COMMUNITY: THE CASE OF BAHÍA DE KINO, SONORA.

Abstract

Home gardens are a livelihood strategy that has improved food security of rural and agricultural households. People in fishing communities are vulnerable to food insecurity because their income depends on the fishing season. Therefore, this study aimed to implement home gardens as a livelihood strategy among households in the fishing community of Bahía de Kino Sonora. Through semi-structured interviews, 91 households were asked about their perspectives regarding the benefits of having a home garden and their experiences after implementation, and analyzed using the constant comparison method. The Mann-Whitney test was used to measure differences in kilograms of vegetables harvested in households with food security and food insecurity and changes in vegetables consumed by children were also estimated using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. About 80% of households harvested and consumed from their own crops. The contribution of the garden to food security was 164.1 kg of vegetables in households with food insecurity and 63.6 kg in households with food security (p=0.03). Also, vegetable consumption increased about 300 g per day in children from households food insecurity (p<0.001). After the implementation and the harvesting of vegetables, households experienced increased availability of vegetables, integration and family well-being. The implementation of home gardening met household expectations and had positive benefits on diversifying the diet of households in the community of Bahia de Kino including vegetable consumption by their children.