From the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in the global community for reshaping and strengthening the local food production system. By our collective effort, we can face future challenges more firmly. The first step in this process is to reimaging the conventional home gardens for ensuring food security at the local level.
Home gardening has always been a crucial part of social living. With advancements in food production technology, various new techniques of food production have developed. One of them is the hydroponic technique, and it allows us to grow our food with precision in less space and less time.
Today we will discuss why you should grow your food at home and how it is beneficial for all.
What are home gardens and how hydroponic technique is making them more efficient?
The home garden is a broad term, but in simple words, home gardens are the spaces near or inside a home where people grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. The home garden provides a regular supply of food to the grower for its daily requirements, or sometimes it is only done for ornamental purpose. Usually, growers raise different crops at the same time in their home garden.
A survey reveals that 46 % of people are growing at least two different vegetable crops in their home gardens. It means that the application of the hydroponic technique in home gardening will save the resources as the hydroponics need up to 80 % less water for crop production.
1. Improves the Food Security of the Household
By having a home garden, growers can significantly improve the accessibility to safe and healthy food. Home gardening improves the overall health of the family as they get nutritious home-grown vegetables regularly.
Home gardening can be the solution to the problem of increasing food demand by being a reliable source of food without being a burden on the national food system.
2. Benefits Environment by Saving Resources
Home gardening is an ecologically friendly step towards better food production culture. It prevents the use of chemical pesticides because the plants grown at home are less vulnerable to the attack of pests.
Home gardening can be even more beneficial for the environment when the hydroponic technique used for plant production. A hydroponic garden is much more efficient in terms of water and nutrient usage than any other traditional soil-garden. This type of system also generates less waste runoff water.
3. Availability of Fresh and Healthy Food at Home
In the times of pandemic, the home garden comes forward as a saviour for a population with high food demands. People can get fresh vegetables at home by growing them in their home gardens. It also reduces the chance of getting infected as vegetables grown at home are completely safe for consumption.
The vegetable selling in the local market picked by many people and can be a carrier of the infection. We can avoid this by growing our food at home, and this will also save our money.
4. Decreases the Risk of Diseases
Most of the diseases are due to the unhealthy diet, and if your daily meal does not have the nutrients your body requires, then it will increase your chances of getting sick. By having a garden at home, you can have fresher and nutritious vegetables at home regularly.
A healthier diet is crucial for your well-being. Vegetables have minerals, vitamins, fibre, and antioxidants which are essential for our body functions. If you are having home-grown vegetables, which have more amount of nutrients, you can reduce your stress as well.
Due to the rapid urbanization and growth of population, there is need to emphasize and adopt the home gardening culture for avoiding future problems. In the coming years, when there are fewer resources available for agriculture, the urban food system will be changed and become more self-sustaining. By the hydroponic home gardening, we can produce healthy food for our family by using minimum resources.