Addressing Community Food Security Through Gardening: A Review (Published)
As many residents struggle with access to fresh produce (fruits and vegetables) and continue to face food insecurity issues, community gardens can be used as a strategy in alleviating these challenges and helping families reduce pandemic-related economic losses by supplementing their diets with nutritious foods. Community gardens are a great way to increase food security, improve public health and reduce crime rates. With a variety of setups, locations, and goals, they can play an important role in making healthy, ethical, and sustainable food available to all people. Having abundant fresh produce readily available in the community reduces grocery bills for families and provides food options when they are low on groceries. Saving money and reducing food insecurity are two benefits. This was crucial during the pandemic when many people experienced financial losses due to unemployment, and it is still crucial given the rising price of food today. This paper, through a rigorous literature review, examines the contributions, and the positive impacts of community and home gardens towards addressing food insecurity and the overall well-being of household members and determines the type of gardening people practice, and common crops grown.
Citation: Buabeng F., and Aduteye E.K. (2022) Addressing Community Food Security Through Gardening: A Review, International Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Studies, Vol.9, No.4, pp.1-13
Keywords: Community, Food Security, Livelihood, backyard, garden, home gardens, urban farming
Contributions of Organic Farming to Environmental Sustenance and Food Security in West Africa: Policy Recommendations (Published)
The article examines contributions of organic farming (OF) to environmental sustenance and food security and identifies policies to enhance the implementation. Scientific literature on environmental damage and stress on food security caused by conventional agriculture and climate change, and benefits of OF in adaptation and mitigation of climate change were synthesized and used for the study. Results show that OF helps in keeping the environment clean by making use of refuse and wastes in the environment to produce healthy foods. Composting in organic farming brings nutrients back from the cities to the farmland. Compared to production of inorganic fertilizer it takes less energy, and when managed in an aerobic condition eliminates methane production reducing the generation of greenhouse gases and climate change. It therefore reduces environmental pollution and promotes the renewed uptake of nutrients from the soil which is what happens under the traditional farming and fallow systems. It supports biodiversity of indigenous fauna and is an advanced form of sustainable agriculture. Organic manure improves the physical properties of soil, biological status of soil, soil fertility and consequently crop yields. Organic manures are general soil amendments and do not burn or harm plants and have long term positive effects on the soil without damaging ground water. Organic manures are also perfect choices for a garden that has many different plants among other advantages. Some of the policies recommended include training extension workers in OF practices, encouraging farmer-to-farmer exchanges, compiling and disseminating emerging indigenous OF knowledge skills, technologies and crop varieties, etc.
Keywords: Contributions, Food Security, Organic Manure, environmental sustenance, farming
Contributions of Organic Farming to Environmental Sustenance and Food Security in West Africa: Policy Recommendations (Published)
The article examines contributions of organic farming (OF) to environmental sustenance and food security and identifies policies to enhance the implementation. Scientific literature on environmental damage and stress on food security caused by conventional agriculture and climate change, and benefits of OF in adaptation and mitigation of climate change were synthesized and used for the study. Results show that OF helps in keeping the environment clean by making use of refuse and wastes in the environment to produce healthy foods. Composting in organic farming brings nutrients back from the cities to the farmland. Compared to production of inorganic fertilizer it takes less energy, and when managed in an aerobic condition eliminates methane production reducing the generation of greenhouse gases and climate change. It therefore reduces environmental pollution and promotes the renewed uptake of nutrients from the soil which is what happens under the traditional farming and fallow systems. It supports biodiversity of indigenous fauna and is an advanced form of sustainable agriculture. Organic manure improves the physical properties of soil, biological status of soil, soil fertility and consequently crop yields. Organic manures are general soil amendments and do not burn or harm plants and have long term positive effects on the soil without damaging ground water. Organic manures are also perfect choices for a garden that has many different plants among other advantages. Some of the policies recommended include training extension workers in OF practices, encouraging farmer-to-farmer exchanges, compiling and disseminating emerging indigenous OF knowledge skills, technologies and crop varieties, etc.
Keywords: Contributions, Food Security, Organic Manure, environmental sustenance, farming
Food Insecurity: Causes and Policy Framework in Strengthening Food Security in Kenya’s Agricultural Sector. (Published)
According to United Nations Food Agriculture Organization and the United States of America department of agriculture in the World Food Summit in 1996, Food security exists when all people at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Food security is basic to the survival of any nation, be it at individual, family or national level. This therefore means that food security should have top priority since no meaningful development in economic, social or cultural sphere is possible without it. However in Kenya, with a population of more than 40 million people, about 10% is classified as food insecure according to United States of America Department of Agriculture – Food Security Analysis March 2009. This is growing at an annual rate of about 30%. Kenya is the largest import market for food and agriculture products in East Africa. Kenya imported about 725 million in agriculture products during 2009, up from 525 million in 2007 in an attempt to mitigate the crisis. This implies that the Government of Kenya should come up with policies that ensure people have access to enough food. This paper examines the role of policy framework in strengthening food security in Kenya.
Keywords: Agricultural Sector, Economic Development, Food Security, Kenya, Policy Framework
Impact of Agricultural Extension on Food Security among Small Scale Farmers in Wareng District, Kenya (Published)
Agricultural extension is one of the effective tools in attaining the millennium development goals related to the reduction and eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in developing countries like Kenya. Despite that extension services were practiced for many years in Kenya, it is evident that these services have declined rapidly. This paper aims to find out the impact of extension on food security among small scale farmers in Wareng District. A survey of 120 smallholder farmers was used in the study. Though there was difference between farmers in different wealth categories, the mean difference is larger at the present compared to the past. Generally extension have played role in improving the living status of farmers in the study area. However, agricultural extension services seems to have an impact on improving food security in the country and increase the wealth gap between farming households and also replace local landraces with improved varieties. The study recommends that the Kenyan government should develop a new and expanded policy agenda for agricultural extension and communication for rural development focusing national attention on food security and income generation of the rural poor
Keywords: Agriculture, Food Security, crops, extension, livestock’s
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING QUANTITY OF MAIZE MARKETED AMONG AGRICULTURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN OYO AND OSUN STATES, NIGERIA. (Published)
This research is a comparative analysis with a focus on the quantity of maize marketed and factors influencing such quantity among agricultural households in Oyo and Osun States of Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was employed to sample two hundred and twenty (220) maize farmers from Oyo while one hundred and eighty (180) maize farmers were selected from Osun for the study. A structured interview schedule was used to collect primary data from the respondents. Data were obtained on socio-economic characteristics of respondents, production and marketing practices, prices and costs. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an estimation of Cobb-Douglas regression model and the Chow’s F- test. The result showed that in Oyo state, mean age for respondents was 45.8 years while it is 42.7 years for Osun counterparts. The summary of sex distribution revealed that 70.9 percent of the Oyo respondents are male compared with 57.8 percent of Osun respondents. In addition, 17.7percent of Oyo respondents compared with 14.4 percent of Osun respondents had no formal education at all. The summary of marital status distribution of respondents showed that more than ninety percent of the interviewed farmers from each state were married while the major source of finance for the farmers from both states was personal savings. Regression analysis revealed the R-squared (R2) as 0.734 for Oyo while it is 0.794 for Osun. This showed that 73.4percent of the variation in quantity of maize marketed by respondents from Oyo was explained by the estimated variables while the variables explained up to 79.4 percent for Osun. The Chow’s f-test that was employed to measure the statistical difference between quantity of maize marketed by Oyo and Osun States respondents revealed that there is no significant difference
Keywords: Chow’s f-test, Food Security, Maize Marketing