Status and scope of kitchen gardening of green leafy vegetables in rural Tanzania: implications for nutrition interventions
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Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
Abstract
Kitchen gardens in Tanzania are currently facing a variety of threats. However, many households depend on basic farming
activities to meet household food needs. The objective of this study was to describe the current status and scope of kitchen
gardening for improving the food security situation in the Morogoro and Dodoma regions of Tanzania. A cluster sampling
method was used to select 383 households. The main respondents were mothers or caregivers responsible for food preparation.
Techniques for data collection were observations, focus group discussions and face to face interviews. A small proportion (2.6%)
of residents in the semi-arid Dodoma region had a kitchen garden as compared to the sub-humid Morogoro region (9.9%). Sweet
potato leaves, cassava leaves, pumpkin leaves, cowpea leaves and African egg plant were the principal vegetables grown in the
two areas. The market provided vegetables to 87% of the surveyed households. Vegetables sold at the market were mostly in the
dried form, fresh vegetables in the market being those cultivated near ponds, especially during dry seasons. About 90% and 55%
of the kitchen garden produce was used for home consumption in Dodoma and Morogoro, respectively.Women contributed 80%
and 75%of the total labor for managing kitchen gardens in Dodoma and Morogoro, respectively. Socio-cultural factors (food
habit and demand and supply of food materials), environmental factors (climatic factors, water availability), types of soils and
farmers’ local knowledge and understanding (traditional knowledge and practices, formal and non-formal education) were the
key determinants of vegetables grown in the traditional kitchen garden. Kitchen gardening was practised by few of the surveyed
households and the diversity of the planted vegetables was low. Factors that influenced the presence of a kitchen gardens at
household level were: sex of the household head (p = 0.002), literacy status of the mother/caregiver (p = 0.001) and the
education level (p = 0.001) of the respondent.
Description
Journal of Food Security (2018) 10:1437–1447
Keywords
Kitchen gardening, Vegetables, Climate change adaptation, Coping strategies, Agricultural innovations