Home gardening: A climate adaptation measure or an
effective utilization of free time
A case study on home gardening in Galle, Sri Lanka
Figure 1: Home garden in Galle
STUDENT
Hannah Norman
STUDENT NUMBER
11756764
BACHELOR
Future Planet Studies
SUPERVISOR
Jaap Rothuizen
FIRST ASSESSORS
Maarten Bavinck and Jaap Rothuizen
SECOND ASSESSOR
Jannes Willems
DATE
May 28
th2021
PLACE
Amsterdam
WORD COUNT
9.984
Abstract
Home gardening is a practice of urban farming that emerged approximately one thousand years ago. It is becoming more commonly used across Sri Lanka due to both government’s desire for self-sufficiency, and the expected adverse effects of climate change, including its impacts on food security. Home gardens currently cover approximately 22% of the total land area in Sri Lanka and Galle, the biggest city in the Southern Province. Through a qualitative exploratory research the phenomenon of home gardening in Galle was analysed. Data was collected through a survey, an interview, and the analysis of social media, news articles, policy documents and scientific literature regarding home gardening. It can be concluded that COVID-19 has had several impacts on the practice, including the change in sex-ratio; the amount of people engaged; and the number of crops grown in home gardens. The crops grown, the size of, and the time spent in, home gardens differ a lot in Galle but the motives of its participants are predominantly similar. Where scientific literature and policies in western oriented countries regarding urban farming focus mainly on environmental aspects, policies in Sri Lanka and the motives of inhabitants of Galle are aimed at the effective and efficient utilization of free time. In conclusion, when answering the research question “What spurs and hinders the development of home gardening in
Galle?” it becomes clear that the availability of fresh food items, the lowering of costs spent on food
and the effective use of free time is what spurs the development of home gardening in Galle. The knowledge needed, and the time and space that are required to be invested in the home garden are identified as the main barriers to the further development of home gardening in Galle.
Preface
The process of writing this thesis has been extremely educational for me. I have never executed a research of this size. Especially during the pandemic and being stuck inside the house for over a year has been challenging. This sometimes resulted in a lack of motivation. Here I would like to thank my 95-year old grandfather who opened his house for me to write my thesis there. During the work I did there he always supported me. After a long day of working on my thesis we would have a drink together to celebrate my progress.
Overall the collection of data through surveys, the interview, literature, social media and news articles was very interesting even though this also came with some challenges. I really enjoyed deepening my knowledge about Sri Lanka, its culture and its people. It was a pleasure to work with my buddy student Udani who helped me throughout the process for which I would like to thank her. Even though we only got to speak to each other via Zoom and WhatsApp, we established a meaningful friendship and hopefully I will have the opportunity to meet her some day.
I would also like to thank my supervisor Jaap who has been very helpful and motivating during the process of writing my thesis. The feedback he provided gave me more insights into how to approach this research and where to put my focus on. The latter was also one of the challenges I encountered during this process as this was the largest research I have ever conducted.
Table of contents
Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ 2
Preface ___________________________________________________________________ 3
1. Introduction ______________________________________________________________ 6
1.1. Social relevance _____________________________________________________________ 6 1.2. Scientific relevance __________________________________________________________ 6 1.3. Problem definition ___________________________________________________________ 72. Theoretical framework _____________________________________________________ 8
2.1. Food security _______________________________________________________________ 8 2.2. Climate adaptation ___________________________________________________________ 8 2.3. Home gardening _____________________________________________________________ 93. Methodology ____________________________________________________________ 11
3.1. Research strategy and research design ___________________________________________ 11 3.2. Case study and unit of analysis ________________________________________________ 11 3.3. Collecting data and analysis methods ____________________________________________ 11 3.4. Limitations ________________________________________________________________ 12
4. Home gardening in Sri Lanka _______________________________________________ 14
4.1. Post-colonial _______________________________________________________________ 14 4.2. Sex ratio __________________________________________________________________ 14 4.3. Current status and developments _______________________________________________ 15
5. Home gardening in Galle __________________________________________________ 17
5.1. General information _________________________________________________________ 17 5.2. Motivation ________________________________________________________________ 19 5.3. Information flow ____________________________________________________________ 21
6. Discussion ______________________________________________________________ 23
6.1. Practicing home gardening ____________________________________________________ 23 6.2. Environmental and economic aspects ___________________________________________ 23 6.3. Crops and seeds ____________________________________________________________ 24
7. Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 25
7.1. Previous __________________________________________________________________ 25 7.2. Present ___________________________________________________________________ 25 7.3. Perception _________________________________________________________________ 26 7.4. Purpose ___________________________________________________________________ 268. Appendix _______________________________________________________________ 28
8.1. Appendix A: Sub questions ___________________________________________________ 28 8.2. Appendix B: Survey _________________________________________________________ 29 8.3. Appendix C: Answers to the survey _____________________________________________ 32
8.3.1. Personal card _______________________________________________________________ 32 8.3.2. General information _________________________________________________________ 33 8.3.3. Motivation _________________________________________________________________ 36 8.3.4. Information flow ____________________________________________________________ 37
8.4. Appendix D: Item list ________________________________________________________ 39 8.5. Appendix E: Interview notes __________________________________________________ 40 8.6. Appendix F: Sources of information ____________________________________________ 43
1. Introduction
Home gardening is a practice of urban farming that emerged approximately one thousand years ago. In Sri Lanka, an island in Southern Asia, home gardening was first encouraged by its government in the 1970s (Dutch Embassy, personal communication, March 19, 2021). The practice consists of annual, biennial and perennial crops including livestock production (Ginigaddara, n.d.). The practice of home gardening has recently advanced in many cities globally as well as in Sri Lanka. In 1995 home gardens accounted for 13,1% of the total land area in Sri Lanka (Pushpakumara et al., 2012); in 2016 this percentage was estimated to be approximately 22% (Mattsson et al., 2017). This thesis will be focused on the city of Galle which is located in the district of Galle which is situated in the Southern Province. 22,1% of the land area in Galle is currently being used for home gardens (Mattsson et al., 2017).
1.1. Social relevance
The practice of home gardening is distributed all over Sri Lanka. Even though it contains an age-old practice, it has only started to become a widespread practice recently. The Agriculture, Irrigation, And Rural Development Ministry and the Development Department of the Social Security Ministry have implemented “Saubhagya” National Harvesting Programme and Cultivation in April 2020 with the goal of achieving one million home gardens in Sri Lanka by distributing two million seeds among Sri Lankan households. It is not clear when this amount of home gardens is planned to be accomplished (Daily FT, 2020a; Daily News, 2020a). Besides this incentive to practice home gardening, it is argued that more and more people are expected to participate in home gardening due to the expected, mainly adverse, effects of climate change and its impacts on crop yield (Truelove et al., 2015; Esham & Garforth, 2013).
As a result of its colonial past, Sri Lanka is enormously dependent on the foreign trade sector. In order to reduce this reliance, the Sri Lankan government introduced import substitution. The objectives that were envisioned were focused on diversification and self-reliance (Athukoralage, 1981). In order for this self-reliance to be achieved, more focus needs to be put on the production of agricultural products. However, the agricultural production in Sri Lanka is and will be affected by climate change (Pathiraja et al., 2017; De Costa, 2010).
1.2. Scientific relevance
The expected effects of climate change will be felt in rural as well as urban areas. The global population is rapidly urbanizing and expected to live in urban and sub-urban areas in 2050. This will also be the case in Sri Lanka which is currently in transition from a mainly rural-based economy towards an urbanized economy (Cabannes & Marocchino, 2018). This aspect of urbanisation also becomes clear
Figure 2: East Asia (Source:
https://www.wpmap.org/tag/east-asia-maps/)
Figure 2: Sri Lanka (Source: https://www.worldatlas.com/m aps/sri-lanka)
Figure 4: Galle City (Source: http://sunethra-city.blogspot.com/2010/01/galle-city-area.html)
from the land use land cover transformation of the city of Galle over the last 25 years where the built-up area of the city increased and the vegetation and non-built-built-up area decreased (Dissanayake, 2020). Because of the increasing demand for food it is important to expand our focus on how urban planning can be incorporated as a way of influencing food systems and how to further develop them while also taking environmental mitigation and adaptation into account (Cabannes & Marocchino, 2018; Dissanayake, 2020).
It is of importance to implement activities in Sri Lanka that will counteract the adverse consequences of climate change. However, not a lot of research has been conducted with regards to these activities and its economic benefits in Sri Lanka (Fernando et al., 2007; Pathiraja et al., 2015). This knowledge gap is important to fill as these efforts will play a dominant role with regards to the desired self-sufficiency of Sri Lanka. According to Truelove et al. (2015) an understanding of how to best educate, support and encourage Sri Lankan farmers and urban citizens to participate in this self-sufficiency is needed. One way for the Sri Lankan urban population to participate in the enhancement of food security is through home gardening as this entails a bottom-up approach to the production of food (Drescher et al., 2006). However, the knowledge with regards to socio-economic, cognitive and normative aspects of these local urban communities remains underexamined (Esham & Garforth, 2013). For this research, socio-economic aspects are understood as the income-producing feature of home gardening as well as the ecosystem service it provides (Jayasinghe et al., 2021). The cognitive aspect can be viewed as the psychological impacts of home gardening on its practitioners and its effects on community development. Lastly, the normative aspects are related to the behaviour of citizens of Galle (e.g. historic and cultural response actions). The knowledge gap that was previously mentioned results in a lack of participation of Sri Lankan citizens.
1.3. Problem definition
In conclusion, external climatic factors are expected to affect the agricultural production in Sri Lanka (Truelove et al., 2015; Esham & Garforth, 2013; Esham & Garforth, 2013a; Jayalath et al., 2020; Peiris et al., 2007). The ambition of the Sri Lankan government to achieve self-sufficient agricultural production is jeopardized by this (Athukoralage, 1981). Opportunities to adapt to these changes lay in local farming, urban communities and home gardening (Pathiraja et al., 2017). However, a knowledge gap with regards to these measures in urban agricultural production, and the related socio-economic, cognitive and normative aspects of the urban communities exists (Esham & Garforth, 2013). The aim of this research is to identify indicators that spur and hinder the development of home gardening in Galle in order for the food security to be protected.
This problem definition and aim of the research leads to the following research question: What spurs
and hinders the development of home gardening in Galle? In order to answer this research question,
several sub questions have been composed following the four P’s: Previous, Present, Perception and Purpose. The sub questions below have subsequently been divided in multiple sub-sub questions which can be found in Appendix A.
• How has home gardening in Sri Lanka developed in the last fifty years? • How is home gardening currently being practiced in Galle?
• How do the inhabitants of Galle perceive home gardening? • What are the motives of Galle’s citizens to start home gardening?
2. Theoretical framework
2.1. Food security
The concept of food security can be defined as “a situation that exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO, 2009, p.8). In the coming 50 years global food security will become an increasingly important issue as crop yield will decrease as a consequence of climate change, water scarcity and declining investments in research and infrastructure (Mancosu et al., 2015; Rosegrant & Cline, 2003; Porter et al., 2014).
The threat of climate change to food security is predicted to be experienced more regularly by smallholder farmers in low latitude, developing areas such as Sri Lanka due to the heightened exposure to these occurrences, lack of economic resources, the high dependency on natural resources, small farm sizes, low technology and capitalization, poor infrastructure, and deficient capacity to adapt to change (Truelove et al., 2015; Esham & Garforth, 2013). These changes can be experienced in a variety of ways, such as variation in rainfall. Sri Lanka experiences two monsoons yearly. The North East monsoon, which occurs from October to December, provides nearly two-thirds of the annual rainfall (Burchfield & Gilligan, 2016). According to Pathiraja et al. (2017) the rainfall that is produced by the North East monsoon has decreased with an increase in rainfall variability which entails more frequent single-day heavy rainfall events. This adapted temporal distribution of rainfall affects yield more than total rainfall (Fernando et al., 2007). The intensification of rainfall also results in more frequent and longer dry spells (Jayalath et al., 2020). Furthermore, the projected increase in global temperatures within the range of 1.8–4 °C until 2100 is expected to result in an increased risk of flooding. This is also assumed to be experienced in Sri Lanka (New et al., 2011; Esham & Garforth, 2013).
2.2. Climate adaptation
In order for the effects of climate change to be counteracted and for food security to be protected, policies and measures to address these risks have to be identified in general. The resilience of communities to these hazards can be achieved by climate change adaptation. This is understood as an adjustment to existing practices to reduce impacts of current or future climate changes (Truelove et al., 2015; Foster et al., 2011). Over the past two decades these measures to achieve climate resilience were mainly implemented through top-down policies. Recently, a shift to a more bottom-up approach has been observed in general due to the increased awareness of the vulnerability of social and environmental systems to climate variability (Preston et al., 2011).
Even though the implementation of climate adaptation in general seems to have shifted towards communities, local governments are still increasingly responsible to prepare and adapt to climate change (Baker et al., 2012). Hence, there are opportunities for local governments and institutions to use the existing guidance for adaptation planning more efficiently. Moreover, the broader governance context in which the adaptation is embedded needs to be considered more closely (Preston et al., 2011). Despite the efforts of local governments and communities to adapt to climate change, many individuals and communities are still increasingly vulnerable to natural hazards (Thomalla et al., 2006). It becomes clear that the governance context has often been disregarded as initiatives were contributing to the ones that had already received large parts of adaptation funding instead of the ones that were in economic and/or social vulnerability (Sovacool et al., 2015). In order for this inequality to be prevented, Shi et al. (2016) present a framework in which four social dimensions of urban climate adaptation are included. The most relevant pillar of the framework for this research entails the broadening of participation in adaptation planning.
This participation in adaptation planning can be facilitated through regional planning and civil-society-led planning which advocate favourable market access and safe local food (Dreschel & Karg, 2018; Bossabong, 2018). Spatial neighbourhood planning, a multi-stakeholder process, also encourages the role of urban agriculture in the promotion of social cohesion and participation among local citizens (Dreschel & Karg, 2018). One of the ways to encourage this participation is through the provision of information, incentives and social interaction through which knowledge is transferred (Thomson et al., 2010). Ghose and Pettygrove (2014) argue that the creation of supporting networks that engage actors of different scales is crucial for the acquirement of information and leverage resources that are necessary to build and maintain urban home gardens. These supporting networks consisting of relationships between community stakeholders, also known as social capital, result in trust-based-ties and ultimately result in accelerated knowledge flows. This allows for the encouragement of people to be more actively engaged in the surrounding communities and thus for participation to be increased (Mu et al., 2008; Stone, 2001; Murzyn-Kupisz & Dzialek, 2013).
Even though it is argued that citizen participation in adaptation planning is crucial, it should be noted that the practice of urban planning is not as evident and structured in Sri Lanka as it is in the Netherlands. According to the Dutch Embassy in Sri Lanka (personal communication, March 19, 2021), decision making is not as transparent and thus the actual reality in Sri Lanka may not be the same as the paper reality with regards to urban planning, citizen participation and urban food production. According to Jayasinghe et al. (2021) there are currently no planning guidelines and standards to encourage home gardening in Sri Lanka. Although there is no explicit focus on urban planning in Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Agriculture does focus on the promotion of home gardening (Ministry of Agriculture, 2015; Wijayarathen, 2016) and the Urban Development Authority focuses on the economic, social, environmental and physical development of urban areas in Sri Lanka (Urban Development Authority, n.d.). Accordingly, it can be concluded that urban planning might not be practiced the same in Sri Lanka as it is in the Netherlands but it is still very much present.
2.3. Home gardening
Home gardening is a complex sustainable land-use system that combines multiple farming components such as annual and perennial crops and livestock (Mattsson et al., 2013; Mattsson et al., 2017) and can be identified as one of many ways to incorporate agricultural adaptation measures. In general, home gardens can be found in rural and urban areas, and mostly are small-scaled agricultural systems. Five characteristics of home gardens can be identified: 1) home gardens are located near the residence; 2) contain a high diversity of plants; 3) production is supplemental; 4) occupy a small area; and 5) are a production system that the poor can easily enter (Hashini Galhena et al., 2013). Home gardening can be seen as urban agriculture which is an industry located within or at the outskirts of a town, city or metropolis, which grows and distributes a diversity of food and non-food products (Cabannes & Marocchino, 2018).
Home gardening contributes to a variety of advantages in Sri Lanka. The first being economic. Tropical home gardens provide citizens with economic and socio-cultural benefits as they generate income and function as a source of nutrition for households (Senanayake et al., 2009; Mattsson et al., 2017; Rao & Rajeswara Rao, 2006; Landreth & Saito, 2014). This income-producing aspect is of importance on the household level but also on the national and global level. Research points out that intensified local food production mitigates the adverse effect of global food shocks and food price volatilities (Hashini Galhena et al., 2013). Secondly, environmental benefits of home gardening can be distinguished. Home gardening results in decreasing pressure on natural forests and therefore saves and stores carbon (Mattson et al., 2015). Due to several processes such as rapid urbanization and deforestation but also as a result of monospecific agricultural production systems, biodiversity is lost significantly (Sandya Kumari et al., 2009). Home gardening contrastingly creates polyculture and thus increases crop diversity. Furthermore, the crops produced in Sri Lankan urban and suburban home gardens contribute
to the provision of food, breeding sites and shelter for animals and plants. Hence, biodiversity is increased (Mattsson et al., 2017; Sandya Kumari et al., 2009). Besides the advantages of home gardening that are mentioned above, multiple concerns can also be identified in Sri Lanka. One of these is the danger of animals such as wild pigs and monkeys damaging the crops. Insects also threaten the harvest of crops as generally chemical pesticides are not applied in home gardens which allows for insects to damage the crops more easily (Dissanayake & Dilini, 2020).
The practice of home gardening has been spurred in the last few years. In 1995 home gardens accounted for 13.1% of the total land area in Sri Lanka (Pushpakumara et al., 2012); in 2016 this percentage was estimated to be approximately 22% (Mattsson et al., 2017). 30-40% of the cultivated area in a single property in Sri Lanka is designed as a home garden (Martin et al., 2018). Besides economic and socio-cultural benefits, home gardens also offer several ecosystem services to its users such as climate regulation, enhanced land productivity and biological diversity, and increased crop diversity (Mattsson et al., 2013). Moreover, livelihood strategies that favour home gardening have more far-reaching benefits across household, national and global scales than those favouring commercial simplification or those abandoning cultivation for alternative incomes (Landreth & Saito, 2014).
3. Methodology
In this chapter the methods used to answer the following research question will be discussed: What spurs
and hinders the development of home gardening in Galle?
3.1. Research strategy and research design
The conducted research is qualitative in nature as the study is focused on the points of view of participants. Qualitative research is used to develop theories when theories partially or inadequately exist for certain populations or when the already existing theories inadequately capture the complexity of the problem that is being examined (Cresswell, 2007). The research that has been conducted is an inductive research, meaning observations generate theory about home gardening and the incentives for citizens of Sri Lanka, and Galle in particular, to participate. The understanding of the motivations of citizens to participate in home gardening was examined through the interpretation of this phenomenon by the participants themselves (Bryman, 2012).
The research is exploratory, where a particular theory or hypothesis that is not yet existent is sought to be formulated. It is generally more associated with the generation of a theory rather than testing it. A relatively unstructured approach was utilized during this research process (Bryman, 2012). The exploratory research is focused on a single case study, namely the city of Galle.
3.2. Case study and unit of analysis
According to Bryman (2012) a case study is associated with a location where the setting is thoroughly examined. For this research one region and thus a single case study, Galle, was chosen as this gives the opportunity to intensively examine the motives of Galle’s citizens to invest their time and resources in home gardening. Case studies generally lend themselves to the in-depth examination of these particular phenomena. In a single instrumental case study the researcher firstly focuses on an issue and subsequently selects one case to illustrate this issue (Cresswell, 2007). The unique feature that is present in the case of Galle is the practice of home gardening. Therefore it can be argued that it is an exemplifying case as it provides an applicable context for the research question to be answered (Bryman, 2012). The research contains one unit of analysis, namely the households of Galle that practice home gardening.
3.3. Collecting data and analysis methods
During this research a qualitative method of data gathering was used. 14 respondents were sampled according to snowball sampling where the sampling strategy was mainly based on relevance rather than representativeness. Snowball sampling entails a convenience sample where the researcher initially
Figure 5: Galle District (Source:
https://www.news.lk/news/business/item/6901-special-development-project-for-galle)
contacts a small group of relevant people, in this case through a Sri Lankan buddy student, and subsequently uses this small network to make contact with others (Bryman, 2012). For this research the respondents are households located in the city of Galle that practice home gardening. The respondents were approached through a Sri Lankan buddy student from the University of Ruhuna named Udani Nayanathara who lives in Galle. Her father is very active in home gardening and Udani knows a lot of people who are also engaged in home gardening in Galle. She thus has a network of contacts at her disposal that was utilized for the sampling of respondents for this research.
The participants sampled through the snowball method were each sent a survey of 27 questions regarding their own home garden and the practice of home gardening in general. To make the survey more accessible to the respondents several options for answers were given. The survey can be found in Appendix B and was also translated to Sinhala by Udani. All the answers given can be found in Appendix C. These results will be more thoroughly discussed in Chapter 5. In addition to the survey, one person was interviewed for approximately 40 minutes. A semi-structured interview was chosen as this interview technique allowed for the researcher to keep an open mind with regards to the knowledge that was to be acquired. As a result, concepts and theories could emerge out of the data. Moreover, semi-structured interviews allow for an in-depth conversation with the respondent which results in detailed answers (Bryman, 2012). The questions asked in the semi-structured interview were based upon an item list (see Appendix D). This approach to the interview with an item list allowed for flexibility during the interview between the researcher and the participant which lead to a more dynamic conversation. It also provided the opportunity for the interview to shift focus on subjects that appeared to be of importance during the interview itself. During the interviews notes were taken. The notes taken contained the core of the answers given by the participant during the interview and can be found in Appendix E. The results that were derived from the interview will be more thoroughly discussed in Chapter 5.
Not only the survey and interview but also scientific literature and policy documents, social media, and news articles were used as sources of information. This use of triangulation can be seen as a way of using multiple methods or data sources to develop an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon (Carter et al., 2014). For the first two sub questions scientific literature was examined to provide a contextual analysis of the current form of home gardening in Sri Lanka and also over the last few decades. The policy documents that were used contained information with regards to the recent promotions and incentives by the Sri Lankan government for citizens to initiate a home garden to grow nutritional resources. The social media website Facebook was used to get more insight into home gardening in Sri Lanka. Members of Facebook groups that are focused on home gardening post pictures of, and updates on, their home garden in this group daily. The news articles examined helped to paint a picture of the current movements within communities, including current developments with regards to the incentives that were provided by the Sri Lankan government to obtain more home gardens. In Appendix F a more detailed list of sources of information that were utilized during the research besides the interview and survey can be seen.
3.4. Limitations
The methods described above and the research itself contained some limitations. As the research was focused on the meaning of the problem through the worldview of the participants, the qualitative report had to reflect these multiple perspectives of the participants in the study. Here, it was of importance that the researcher did not bring her own meaning to the research (Cresswell, 2007). Equally important are the ethical limitations that had to be taken into consideration. Cresswell (2007) argues that ethical issues in qualitative research can occur during all phases prior to, during and after the research. The researcher endeavoured to establish supportive, respectful relationships with the participants without stereotyping and using labels that the participants did not embody.
One aspect of the supportive, respectful relationships that were established with the participants includes ethical aspects. The communication towards the participants was as transparent as possible from the very beginning. At the beginning of the survey and during the interview the respondents were informed of the goal of the research, for what purpose the research would be used, and that responses would be kept anonymous. This communication, however, was also to some degree jeopardized by the fact that the interview and surveys were not conducted in person but online.
The COVID-19 pandemic also posed several limitations to the research. Both the amount of survey respondents and the number of interviews conducted were limited due to COVID-19. Because of the current lockdown, Udani was unable to leave her home and so could not collect more participants through a non-online way of communication. The same holds for the interview. In an attempt to increase the number of respondents the survey was shared in multiple Facebook groups that are focused on home gardening in Sri Lanka. However, the administrators of the Facebook groups would not allow the survey to be shared with group members. Additionally, a language barrier was present which sometimes affected the communication between the researcher and participants. Moreover, for the network of contacts and the recruitment of participants the researcher was completely dependent on the Sri Lankan buddy student.
Besides the views of the participants of the study, the research was also approached through an urban planning perspective. Here, it should be noted that the concept of urban planning is not particularly evident in Sri Lanka. The decision making processes in Sri Lanka are not as transparent as they are in the Netherlands (Dutch Embassy, personal communication, March 19, 2021). This contributed to the challenge of gathering concrete information from policy documents with regards to urban planning. It was also challenging to come to a representative conclusion because of the low amount of respondents. As only 14 households in Galle filled out the survey, it would be dangerous to draw statistical conclusions from the data that was collected. Therefore, the study that was conducted may not be generalizable to the entire population of Galle. The respondents were also mostly highly educated which possibly resulted in a non-representative view on home gardening.
4. Home gardening in Sri Lanka
In this chapter literature and news articles were examined to give a contextual analysis of home gardening in Sri Lanka. This entails a historical analysis from when home gardening was first practiced to when home gardening was spurred after the end of the civil war in 2009. Furthermore, the current practice of home gardening in Sri Lanka will be discussed.
4.1. Post-colonial
Traditional home gardening in Sri Lanka was first practiced centuries ago in the mid-country region of Sri Lanka. Here, home gardens are near households and often close to a water source. They are managed through family labour and depend on local knowledge systems (Pushpakumara et al., 2010). The practice of home gardening has continuously evolved from one generation to the next in order to meet socio-economic, cultural, and ecological needs (Martin et al., 2017). But not only family relations have affected the development of the practice of home gardening in Sri Lanka, the post-colonial period and the civil war have also had their influence.
When Sri Lanka became independent from the United Kingdom in 1948, the internal war in Sri Lanka ended and the militant separatist group was defeated (Harris, 2018). The British colonial policy had long-term impacts on the production relations of agriculture in Sri Lanka, among which the practice of home gardening. From a colonial science point of view, the value of home gardens was regarded to be not convincing as they appeared to be unproductive, jungle-like and uncultivated. This belief has impacted home gardening and its potential significantly. As modern plantations were viewed to be dynamic and productive, these techniques were favoured over more traditional agriculture such as home gardening (Yapa, 1997). However, nowadays home gardens are starting to become a more and more common practiced form of agriculture.
4.2. Sex ratio
The emergence of home gardening as a more commonly practiced form of agriculture has especially been clearly observed after the civil war ended in 2009. Since then, the government and several non-governmental organizations have established over 500 home gardens in the Northern region of Sri Lanka (Galhena, 2012). In 1993 as much as 75% of products that were produced in home gardens were commercially sold to produce income (Hoogerbrugge & Fresco, 1993), however it should be noted that most of the home garden production was intended for home consumption (Fernandes & Nair, 1986). In 2009 the products sold that were produced in home gardens contributed to 5% of the total annual household income (Sandya Kumari & Kansuntisukmongkol, 2009).
Another effect of the civil war that has been observed in Sri Lanka is the change in family composition. Thousands of households have lost their male heads which has led to a change in sex ratio in the country. Many women and/or children were left in charge to support the family welfare (Galhena, 2012; Silva, 2012). This can be seen as one of the reasons why women are generally more active in urban agriculture (see Figure 7). Another reason for the higher participation in home gardening among women in relation to the participation of men is that urban men, according to Gamhewage et al. (2015), do not consider urban farming to be a significant source of income. Agricultural activities are also viewed as daily household activities of women and women are expected to be responsible for the provision of secured food supply to the family (Gamhewage et al., 2015).
The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, which killed more than 200.000 people and displaced more than a million, also impacted the sex ratio in Sri Lanka and Galle. Due to this, the positions of women who lost their husbands was changed within the post-tsunami society (Hyndman, 2008). In addition, women were forced to mediate and negotiate everyday responses in the aftermath of this and other (natural) disasters
Figure 7: Sex ratio in home gardening before and during COVID-19 (Source: Dissanayake & Dilini, 2020)
(Ruwanpura, 2008). Besides the increase in female dominated households, the agricultural sector of Sri Lanka itself was also tremendously damaged as productivity of soils was decreased (Mattsson et al., 2009). Moreover, the land that was suited for home gardening was used for temporary shelters for the people who were displaced as a result of the tsunami (Ruwanpura, 2009).
4.3. Current status and developments
In 2015, the number of home gardens in Sri Lanka had grown by approximately 2% annually as a result of new gardens and the fragmentation of existing ones. Most home gardens are privately owned by families who use their own labour and are dependent on local knowledge systems (Mattsson et al., 2017). Approximately 85% of home garden practitioners have solely completed primary education (Weerahwea et al., 2012). As was previously mentioned, the number of households that are female dominated has increased due to a number of factors. This increase can also be observed in the composition of practitioners of home gardening (Raveena Udari et al., n.d.). Besides the historical events that affected the sex ratio and higher participation among women in home gardening in Sri Lanka as was described above, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic should also be discussed. Namely, the female domination in home gardening in Sri Lanka has changed as a result of the pandemic. As can be seen in Figure 7, currently both males and females are actively engaged in home gardening (Dissanayake & Dilini, 2020).
The plant diversity in home gardens is generally high. Plants grown in home gardens include medicinal plants, food plants and ornamental plants (Sandya Kumari & Knasuntisukmongkol, 2009). Several food plants can be identified. These can be categorised as cereals, vegetables, leafy vegetables, spices, legumes, oil crops, root and tuber crops, fruit crops and herbal crops (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2019). The government of Sri Lanka has recently promoted home gardens as means to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of vegetables with regards to food security. Free seeds, fertilisers and technical advice to smallholder farmers are also provided to decrease vegetable prices (Mattsson et al., 2017). The Food Production National Programme, the government’s initiative to achieve more home gardens from 2016 to 2018, also seeks to obtain a higher fruit production and cultivation (Raveena Udari et al., n.d.). According to a study conducted by Raveena Udari et al. (n.d.), the majority of the respondents were willing to grow a fruit tree in the upcoming year as they were aware of the (economic) benefits.
Recently, partly due to COVID-19, home gardening has become a much more widespread technique. From 2016 to 2018 the Sri Lankan government launched the Food Production National Programme which focussed on increasing awareness and promotional programmes. The promotion of home gardening also played a big role in this program (Ministry of Agriculture, 2015; Wijayarathen, 2016). Besides the Food Production National Programme, the government has also recently released other
incentives to promote home gardening. The first being “Saubhagya” National Harvesting Programme and Cultivation which launched in April 2020 where two million seeds were distributed among Sri Lankan households to achieve a million home gardens (Daily FT, 2020a; Daily News, 2020a; Rodrigo, 2020). Furthermore, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic the Ministry of Agrarian Services and the Department of Agriculture have shifted their focus to home gardening to facilitate (large scale) cultivations. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka has also advocated for home gardening as he “strongly urges the populace to take up home gardening thereby wisely utilizing their time as well as contributing to the common cause” (Daily News, 2020b). A third incentive that was issued is the ‘footprints’ program that was initiated by DIMO, one of Sri Lanka’s leading conglomerates. The program promotes home gardening as “a family bonding activity” and as “a way of relaxation”. DIMO has provided all-in-one do-it-yourself home gardening kits which include all crucial resources making home gardening a much more accessible means of producing food (Daily FT, 2021). Not only the government provides Sri Lankan households with seeds through the “Saubhagya” National Harvesting Programme and Cultivation but also sources on the internet and friends provide seeds as becomes clear from the data collected from a survey that was spread among households in Galle. This will be thoroughly discussed in Chapter 5.
Besides COVID-19 having effects on the participation in home gardening in Sri Lanka including more men being active in home gardening, the pandemic has also emphasized the economic character of home gardening. According to Dissanayake and Dilini (2020), during the pandemic the diet of urban citizens in Sri Lanka increasingly consists of home grown vegetable products. Following the survey these two authors conducted, urban inhabitants in Sri Lanka spend between 15 minutes to two hours a day in their home garden. During this time different seeding techniques are used and fertilizer, being homemade or neighbourhood shared, is applied to the crops. The home gardens in Sri Lanka have very different characteristics as becomes clear from scientific literature and the survey that has been conducted by the author (see Chapter 5). Home gardens in Sri Lanka cover different sizes of land and several irrigation techniques are used (Daily News, 2020b).
5. Home gardening in Galle
In this chapter home gardening will be analysed according to data that was collected from three different methods. The first being the internet including social media. The second source is data that was collected from fourteen surveys among households in Galle. Thirdly, one home gardener in Galle was interviewed.
5.1. General information
When examining groups on Facebook that are focused on home gardening in Sri Lanka, it can be concluded that Sri Lankan citizens are to some degree interested in home gardening. The Facebook group ගෙවතු වො සංග්රාමය reached 100.000 members within a month of its initiation (Rodrigo, 2020) and currently consists of more than 141 thousand members. In this group, members share tips and tricks with regards to home gardening. From the posts in this Facebook group it can be concluded that inhabitants of Sri Lanka produce a variety of crops in their home gardens. From pictures that were attached to the posts it can be stated that spices, vegetables and fruit crops are cultivated. Spices such as curcuma, dill, cloves and cacao are grown most commonly. Aubergine, corn, red and green peppers, tomatoes, avocado, beans, mushrooms and carrot are the vegetables that are grown. Fruit crops that are cultivated are bananas, lemons, passion fruit, coconut, pineapple, watermelon and strawberries. In general, people cultivate their crops in soil but some also use several pots in their home garden which all contain different crops. Moreover, people use self-made constructions that for example consist of stones that demarcate several different areas in their garden with various crops in it. In addition to stones, people also use waste materials such as plastic bottles and bags for structural arrangements in their home garden (Dissanayake & Dilini, 2020). The different forms of home gardening in Sri Lanka can be seen in Figures 8 to 15.
Even though the information given above applies to home gardening in Sri Lanka as a whole, it can be stated that, at least some of it, is also applicable in the case of Galle. 22,1% of the land area in Galle is used for home gardens (Mattsson et al., 2017). Here, banana and mango are the most significant contributors to household fruit production (Raveena Udari et al., n.d.). Besides banana and mango, there is an enormous variety of crops being cultivated. This also becomes clear from the survey that has been conducted as most respondents grow fruits as well as vegetables. The survey has been filled out by fourteen people of which eleven are female and three identify as male. The respondents are aged between 21 and 68 years. Two of the respondents have a job while the rest of the respondents are students. The person that was interviewed is 68 years old and is retired. The participants of the survey started home gardening between the period of 2010 to 2020 and their home gardens are situated in either the front yard, back yard or midula which can be best described as a garden inside the house. The home garden of the interviewee is located in the back and front yard and was started in 2015 (full interview transcripts are presented in Appendix E, personal communication, 18 May, 2021). When comparing their current home garden to when they started it, most of the home gardens grew in size and the amount of crops that are cultivated also increased. Thus, a clear development in the size of home gardens and the amount of crops that are grown can be observed. This, in some cases, is a result of COVID-19 as was stated by nine of the fourteen respondents as the lockdown and curfew resulted in extra free time for the residents of Galle. The respondents spend between one and 21 hours per week in their home garden during which seeds are planted, the garden is maintained and the crops are harvested. All the crops that are grown in home gardens in Galle can be found in Table 1. According to most respondents (78,6%), these crops are harvested from time to time while some (28,6%) also harvest daily. All respondents use the cultivated crops for their own consumption. None of the respondents sell the products that they cultivate in their home garden.
Figure 8: Crops in home garden (Source: Senesh Lakmal, 2021)
Figure 9: Harvest from home garden (Source: Wasanthi Abeysekara, 2021)
Figure 10: Aubergine tree in home garden (Source: R. Nadeeshani Perera, 2021)
Figure 11: Bitter Gourd in home garden (Source: තුඹ කරවිල තුඹ කරවිල, 2021)
Figure 12: Home garden crops grown in pots (Source: Sanka Sanka, 2021)
Figure 13: Eggplant tree in home garden (Source: Lakshika Senanayaka, 2021)
Figure 14: Home garden utilizing plastic waste materials (Source: Danu Pethu, 2021)
Figure 15: Home garden demarcated with stones (Source: Danu Pethu, 2021)
The size of home gardens of the respondents in Galle varies significantly. Where one respondent’s home garden covers 5 m2, another respondent’s home garden covers 60 square meters of land. On
this surface, several tools are used. Most of the respondents have indicated that an irrigation system and shears are utilized in their home garden. A minority of the households also use a shovel and other digging tools. The home gardener that was interviewed during this research emphasized that no special tools are used in their home garden. Buckets are utilized for watering the crops and manure is home made through the collection of waste (personal communication, 18 May , 2021).
5.2. Motivation
Home gardening can be seen as a climate adaptation measure and as a way to achieve a self-sufficient food producing system. The latter is why the Prime Minister has urged the Ministry of Agriculture to promote the practice of home gardening (Daily News, 2020b). This also seems to be one of the motivating aspects for households who practice home gardening in Galle. 92,2% of the respondents argue for the availability of fresh food items for home consumption as the main benefit of home
gardening. The aspect of home gardening as a climate adaptation measure, however, does not seem to directly impact people’s decision to start home gardening. Eight of the respondents identify the changes in rainfall pattern, droughts and increasing temperature as noticeable effects of climate change while six do not experience climate change at all. Jayasinghe et al. (2021) identify the increasing occurrences of hot and dry periods that could potentially lead to fires as one of the factors that troubles the further development of home gardens in Galle. The amount of space that is necessary for a home garden is also mentioned as a hindering factor for the development of home gardening in Galle.
Table 1: Crops grown in home gardens in Galle (Source: Author)
Crop Frequency Percentage
Chilli 8 57,1% Papaya 4 28,6% Banana 4 28,6% Aubergine 4 28,6% Mango 4 28,6% Okra 3 21,4% Tomato 3 21,4%
Vegetables and fruits 2 14,3%
Citrus 2 14,3%
Jackfruit 2 14,3%
Green leaves (Kankun) 2 14,3%
Vegetables 1 7,1% Brinjol 1 7,1% Gotukola 2 7,1% Cloves 1 7,1% Pepper 1 7,1% Betel 1 7,1% Breadfruit 1 7,1% Puhl 1 7,1% Pineapple 1 7,1% Walnut 1 7,1% Spinach 1 7,1% Long beans 1 7,1% Snake gourd 1 7,1% Ridge gourd 1 7,1% Batu 1 7,1% Ambarella 1 7,1% Asparagus 1 7,1% Guava 1 7,1% Ladies fingers 1 7,1% Lemon 1 7,1% Winged bean 1 7,1% Mee 1 7,1% Nai 1 7,1%
When the participants of the survey and the interviewee were asked to identify any hesitations that may have conflicted their decision to start their home garden, almost all responded that no hesitations were experienced. Three respondents of the survey were able to name one or more hesitations towards starting their home garden including the ability to not use any chemicals on the cultivated crops, the amount of time that has to be invested into the home garden and the amount of space the home garden occupies that can consequently not be used for other purposes. Even though little doubts towards the initiation of
their home garden were identified besides from the reluctancy towards chemicals and the time and space that has to be utilized, all respondents were able to distinguish some disadvantages of home gardening (see Table 2). More than 85% of the respondents found that the infection of diseases in crops is one of the downsides of home gardening. Over 70% of the respondents stated that dangers from animals to the crops that are being cultivated is also one of the disadvantages of home gardening. This entails damages from insects and wild animals such as peacocks. One respondent named the high costs for maintenance as one of the difficulties of home gardening. As can be seen in Table 2, three respondents also selected ‘Other’. Because no interviews were able to be conducted and none of the three participants specified their choice, it is not possible to further elaborate on this.
Table 2: Disadvantages of home gardening (Source: Author)
Disadvantage Frequency Percentage
Infection of diseases in crops 12 85,7%
Danger from animals 10 71,4%
High maintenance costs 1 7,1%
Other 3 21,4%
Since the pandemic hit Sri Lanka, people generally have more time on their hands due to the lockdown and curfew that were put into practice. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka has argued for home gardening as an efficient way to utilize this extra free time (Daily News, 2020b). This also becomes clear from the data collected from the survey. 71,4% of the participants stated that the efficient use of time is perceived as the main benefit of home gardening. This utilization of time is not only effective but also often described as a hobby which was identified as one of the reasons why 78,6% of the respondents started their home garden as can be seen in Table 3. The reduction of costs of food, entailing fruits as well as vegetables, was mentioned as the other reason. Moreover, the latter was also frequently (92,2%) classified as one of the benefits of home gardening (see Table 4). In addition, the interviewee stated that home gardening is primarily “good for my pocket” as some expenses are cut. Furthermore, an organic fertilizer and thus no chemicals are used during the production of crops in the home garden making them much more healthy than when bought in the supermarket where products generally contain a lot of chemicals. According to the interviewee this is also a major benefit of home gardening (personal communication, 18 May, 2021).
Table 3: Motivations to start home gardening (Source: Author)
Table 4: Advantages of home gardening (Source: Author)
Advantage Frequency Percentage
Reduce expenses on food 10 71,4%
Availability of fresh food items 13 92,2%
Efficiently utilize free time 10 71,4%
5.3. Information flow
Some respondents have indicated that they first heard of the concept of home gardening through family. This family-related aspect of home gardening also becomes clear from an article from Mongabay that was examined where home gardening is promoted as a family-engaging activity that provides more productive family time and physical exercise (Rodrigo, 2020). Nonetheless, the aspect of physical exercise was not mentioned as a motive by the home gardeners in Galle. In addition to the first encounter
Motivation Frequency Percentage
As a hobby 11 78,6%
with home gardening being through family, many participants of the survey that was conducted among households in Galle and the interviewee (personal communication, 18 May, 2021) got familiar with the concept of home gardening in school. This is also what the Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition programme, which was initiated by the Department of Agriculture, Horticultural research and development institute and the Plant Genetic Resources Centre focuses on by making school children aware of home gardening (Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Sri Lanka, n.d.).
Table 5: First encounter with home gardening (Source: Author)
First encounter Frequency Percentage
2000 1 7,1%
Childhood 1 7,1%
School 6 42,9%
Family 2 14,3%
‘Let’s Grow the Country’ in 2015 3 21,4%
2020 1 7,1%
The family aspect in home gardening that was previously discussed also becomes evident from some of the answers given by the participants when asked where the information regarding home gardening is gathered from. Here, nine of the respondents indicated that their family provides them with the necessary information. The home gardener that was interviewed identified friends and television programmes as their main source of information regarding home gardening. Multiple programmes on the television are focussed on home gardening and raise awareness regarding the practice but also educate their viewers on how to correctly cultivate crops. Moreover, there are several YouTube channels that focus on and educate their viewers about home gardening (personal communication, 19 May 2021). Besides information about home gardening being acquired through school, family, friends and television, over 70% of the respondents also identify the internet as one of their sources of information (see Table 6). Following Table 7 the internet is often described as the or one of the sources where seeds are collected from. Furthermore, the majority of participants get their seeds from seed outlets and markets. What becomes clear from the interview that was conducted is that communication among neighbours and thus neighbourhood relations are strengthened as a result of home gardening. Knowledge is transferred across the local community. The interviewee stated about his neighbours that “if I have something they need I will give it to them and if they have something I need they will give it to me” and that “I am always trying to help them” (personal communication, 18 May, 2021).
Table 6: Source of information with regards to home gardening (Source: Author)
Source of information Frequency Percentage
Friends 5 35,7% Family 9 64,3% School/University 4 28,6% Agricultural experts 2 14,3% Television 5 35,7% Internet 10 71,4%
Table 7: Source of seeds for home garden (Source: Author)
Source of seeds Frequency Percentage
Government 4 28,6%
Internet 1 7,1%
Friends 5 35,7%
Seed outlet 12 85,7%
6. Discussion
In this chapter the empirical results of this research will be compared to the results that were derived from literature research. The most interesting aspects of this comparison will be discussed and a more in-depth view will be given on urban planning practices in Sri Lanka and how this practice differs from the mostly western oriented scientific literature regarding urban planning.
6.1. Practicing home gardening
Home gardening, being a form of urban farming, is a practice that is located near the residence and has a high diversity in plants. Besides these two aspects being present in almost every home garden in Sri Lanka and in Galle specifically, there is not one common way of home gardening. This first becomes clear when observing the crops that are grown in home gardens by the members of Facebook groups and by the participants of this study. In addition to the crops themselves, the physique of the home gardens also differs a lot. Where some mostly grow their crops in bare soil, others have produced their own constructions containing very different materials such as stones and waste materials but also pots are frequently used. All in all, it is interesting that different resources are used that all contribute to the same goal of producing crops and also are defined according to the same concept of home gardening.
As becomes clear from the literature that was examined during this research and the surveys that were conducted among households in Galle who own a home garden, COVID-19 has impacted the practice of home gardening but also its participation. The interviewee stated that “it did influence people to start home gardening as people have more time on their hands to garden” (personal communication, 18 May, 2021). Where, due to several historic events, women were mainly dominant in home gardening in Sri Lanka, this domination has decreased since COVID-19 (Dissanayake & Dilini, 2020). Similarly to this becoming evident from the literature, the data retrieved from the survey also highlights the participation in home gardening among men. Even though women are still generally more involved in the practice of home gardening, three of the fourteen respondents are men. Despite Weerahwea et al. (2012) stating that approximately 85% of home gardeners have solely completed primary education, this does not become clear from the survey. Only one respondent has completed primary education, while the rest all selected university as their highest completed education level. This contrast to the literature might be a result from the method of data collection. This and other reflections on the research process will be further discussed in Chapter 7.
6.2. Environmental and economic aspects
As was stated at the beginning of this thesis, home gardening is viewed to be a way of implementing climate adaptation measures. Due to the high crop diversity in home gardens, biodiversity is increased, pressure on natural forests is decreased and more carbon is saved and stored (Mattsson et al., 2015; Sandya Kumari et al., 2009). However, this environmental aspect of home gardening is only emphasized by the scientific literature that was examined. What becomes clear from other sources of data such as policy documents, news articles and the data that was collected from the survey is that this environmental focus is in reality not at all prioritized. It becomes clear that the government of Sri Lanka primarily promotes home gardening as a family-bonding activity and as an efficient and effective way to utilize free time, especially during the current lockdown. Moreover, the households in Galle who are growing their own home garden also do not seem to be motivated by environmental threats. Where policies in western oriented countries regarding urban farming are mostly focused on reducing the urban heat island effect, improving air quality, reducing food transportation, and improving neighbourhood reputation (Hui, 2011; Poulsen et al., 2017), Sri Lankan citizens and inhabitants of Galle are rather motivated as home gardening is viewed as a hobby and as a way to reduce the expenses on food.
Similarly to the environmental aspect of home gardening that was emphasized by scientific literature, the economic and income-producing aspect of home gardening was also clearly highlighted (Senanayake et al., 2009; Mattsson et al., 2017; Rao & Rajeswara Rao, 2006; Landreth & Saito, 2014) but does not become evident from the data collection of the author. Based on the data that was collected through the survey and the interview it can be concluded that home gardening has economic advantages as it reduces the expenses on food but it does not necessarily produce an income that is supplemental for households in Galle. The participants stated that all crops grown in their home garden were used for home consumption but that none of the products were also sold besides this home consumption. Hence, the crops that are cultivated in home gardens exclusively lower the expenses on food.
6.3. Crops and seeds
Even though the expenses that are spent on food from the supermarket are lowered, it was also stated that high costs for maintenance of the home garden are incurred. The latter was identified as one of the disadvantages of home gardening by one of the households in Galle. Besides this and other disadvantages of home gardening, it was expected that more hesitations towards home gardening would be identified. However, the households in Galle seem to generally add value to their home garden as it provides them with fresh food items and allows them to utilize their time effectively. Contrary to the literature that was examined, households in Galle primarily grow fruits and vegetables and sometimes spices in their home garden. According to Sandya Kumari and Knasuntisukmongkol (2009) and Rodrigo (2020), the plants grown in home gardens generally also include medicinal plants and ornamental plants.
As the Sri Lankan government has distributed two million seeds for home gardens in April 2020, it was expected that the government would be one of the main sources of seeds among households in Galle. Yet, this does not seem to be the case as only two of the respondents who started their home garden in 2020 identified the government as (one of) the source(s) of their seeds, while three of the respondents who started home gardening in 2020 did not identify the government as their seed source. Moreover, the internet was also expected to be a bigger source of seeds for the households in Galle. Following the posts in the Facebook groups, a good amount of people posted about their seeds being acquired from Facebook. However, only one respondent recognized the internet as the source of their seeds. Although the internet might not be the main source of seeds, it is clearly the main source of knowledge regarding home gardening for households in Galle.
7. Conclusion
Following the problem definition that was given in the introduction of this thesis, a knowledge gap exists with regards to socio-economic, cognitive and normative aspects of urban communities concerning home gardening (Esham & Garforth, 2013). In order to fill this knowledge gap and to identify indicators that spur and hinder the development of home gardening in Galle, first a contextual analysis of home gardening in Sri Lanka as a whole and home gardening in Galle was given. Subsequently, the perception of home gardening among the households in Galle was examined and finally the motives of Galle’s citizens to start home gardening were identified. This was done by conducting a qualitative research. Data from fourteen households in Galle was collected through an online survey and one home gardener from Galle was interviewed. Besides these two sources of data, scientific literature, social media, news articles and policy documents were also analysed. A conclusion following the four P’s (Previous, Present, Perception, Purpose) will be given at the end of this chapter.
While concluding the data that was analysed during this research, it should be noted that the data that was collected through the survey that was conducted among fourteen households in Galle may not reflect the views of all citizens of Galle. Thirteen of the fourteen respondents have indicated that they completed university while only one participant has finished primary education. This might have resulted in contrasts in the data collected from scientific literature and the empirical data. As only 14 households in Galle who are mostly highly educated filled out the survey, it would be dangerous to draw statistical conclusions from the data that was collected. That is why the conclusion that will be given at the end of this chapter might not be a representation of reality and may not be generalizable. More research regarding home gardening in Galle must be conducted, especially on the aspects that hinder the development of home gardening in the city as most respondents viewed the practice positively and hardly identified any hesitations.
7.1. Previous
Home gardening was first practiced in the mid-country region of Sri Lanka centuries ago and has continuously evolved from one generation to the next (Pushpakumara et al., 2010; Martin et al., 2017). When Sri Lanka was a colony of the United Kingdom from 1815 until 1948 home gardening was no longer a priority. From a colonial science point of view, the value of home gardens was regarded to be not convincing as they appeared to be unproductive, jungle-like and uncultivated. This belief has impacted home gardening and its potential significantly (Yapa, 1997).
Not only the practice of home gardening and how it is perceived has evolved over the last few decades but also the composition of its practitioners has changed due to multiple events. The first being the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 where women who lost their husbands were required to mediate and negotiate everyday responses in the post-tsunami society (Hyndman, 2008; Ruwanpura, 2008). The civil war which ended in 2009 also impacted the family composition and sex-ratio in Sri Lanka significantly as many households lost their male head. As a result, many women and/or children were left in charge to support the family welfare (Galhena, 2012; Silva, 2012). The increase in number of households that are female dominated can also be observed in the composition of practitioners of home gardening (Raveena Udari et al., n.d.).
7.2. Present
Since the COVID-19 pandemic the female domination in home gardening in Sri Lanka has changed. Currently, both males and females are actively engaged in home gardening (Dissanayake & Dilini, 2020). Not only the pandemic but also several government incentives have spurred the development of home gardening in Sri Lanka such as the Food Production National Programme from 2016 to 2018 and the National Harvesting Programme and Cultivation which launched in April 2020 (Daily FT, 2020a;
