Short course on Home Garden: A proven approach to improving family nutrition and household resilience

Training date: 11-14 September, 2017
Venue: Lakeside, Pokhara
Application deadline: 4 September, 2017
Course Fee: NPR 22,500 (residential) and 15,000 (non-residential)

Background

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Hunger Statistics of 2015 shows that nearly one in eight of the total world’s population are suffering from chronic undernourishment, and almost 98% of these people live in developing countries. Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016 elucidates that 36% of children under the age of five are suffering from chronic under nutrition (stunting) and 41% of women of age 15-49 are anemic in Nepal. The Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan (2013-17) of Nepal emphasized on the role of agricultural development in order to address nutrition problem and the Agriculture Development Strategy (2015-2035) of Nepal also ear marked food and nutrition security as one of the flagship programme. LI BIRD’s extensive research and piloting have proved that within agriculture, homestead biodiversity management is a prominent factor to improve both family nutrition and household income.

‘Kitchen Gardens’ in Nepal was a step in the right direction, however it excluded elements of crop diversification and livestock integration. LI BIRD recognized this gap so developed, piloted and implemented the concept of a ‘Home Garden’ which includes all necessary components of homestead agriculture. A Home Garden includes fruits, vegetables, species, fodder, medicinal plants and ornamental plants, managed together with livestock and other species such as fish, mushroom and honeybees. The Home Garden was primarily intended for family consumption, but has also been found to be successful in reducing economic vulnerability of resource poor households through the sales of surplus products and reducing expenditure on vegetables and fruits. Home garden is now a proven approach to improving family nutrition and household resilience to climate change. It is integrated into the regular extension programme of Nepal government and is being implemented in 20 districts of the country with possible expansion. It has also been mainstreamed in the CTEVT course curriculum for Junior Technician level.

Course Objective

The overall aim of this course is to build participants knowledge and skills on integrated home garden management. Specific objectives of this course are to make the participants able to:

• Describe home garden concept and its contribution to family nutrition and household income
• Design climate resilience home gardens
• Apply low cost home garden management principles in their own context

Course Content 

The course will elaborate on the connection between nutrition and agriculture, and will provide tools for increasing the resilience of smallholder farming families through improved nutrition and income. It will also identify techniques to increase food diversity in smallholder farms through systematic planning and design. Based on the principle of low external input agriculture, the course will highlight organic agriculture and the vertical and horizontal space utilization for optimum output.

Training Approach

The course will be facilitated by LI-BIRD which holds more than 12 year’s research and field experiences. It will also invite the participants to share their own experiences to reflect on the current national and global Home Garden practices. The course will be a participatory and hands-on professional training which will offer a stimulating learning experience. A variety of methods will be used to make the learning effective including; pre course assignments, group exercise, field excursion, case studies, group discussions, lectures and audio/visual media.

Target participants

The course assumes participants to have basic knowledge on agriculture as well as contemporary development interventions in Nepal. Graduates and professionals from the agriculture, health and nutrition and or development sectors are encouraged to apply.

We will accommodate all participants in a hotel with full board and lodging for five nights and four days. The course fee covers all course related costs such as stationery, training materials, field visit and excursion including accommodation as part of the course fee. Participants however are requested to arrange their own travel to and from Pokhara.

Students or fresh graduates willing to apply for scholarship must apply before 1 September, 2017 and provide a recommendation letter from their Institution. The participants will be granted a certificate of participation.

Practical Information

Training date: 11-14 September, 2017
Venue: Lakeside, Pokhara
Application deadline: 4 September, 2017
Course Fee: NPR 22,500 for residential and NPR 15,000 for non-residential participants