Abstract:
Due to the combination of trees, crops
livestock and poultry, homegardens are well-known in
providing socioeconomic and agro-ecological ser vices. This study was conducted to assess the potential
contribution of homegardens toward securing domes tic food requirement. A questionnaire survey with
ground trothing was conducted with 145 households in
Jaffna peninsula. Socioeconomic data, floristic and
fauna diversity and food consumption data were
gathered. Average size of a family and homegarden
was 4 members and 0.083 ha, respectively. Sixty-nine
plant species were recorded including 10 vegetables,
18 fruit and 43 woody plant species. Approximately
50% of the homegardeners reared livestock and
poultry. Food consumption of the households evalu ated based on the Food Consumption Score (FCS) of
the World Food Program indicated that, 1, 12 and 73%
households fell into poor, borderline and accept able FCS categories, respectively. Expenditure on
food and beverages showed a positive relationship with FCS, explaining the dependency of households
on market for food necessity. Coconut was the most
common income commodity and the most dominant
tree species in homegardens, according to Summed
Dominance Ratio of tree species. It was revealed that
animal proteins and pulses are truly important in
securing domestic caloric availability. Except pulses,
most of the crops in homegardens were falling into the
least important category with respect to FCS. It was
found that a household is more secured in terms of
caloric availability when homegardens are highly
diverse in livestock and poultry and has access to more
animal proteins. Growing animals and crops to get
valuable components in homegardens will assure
enhancement of food security in the future. Thus,
homegarden could be a potential approach in assuring
domestic food security in the area
