The sprouting home gardens in Nagaland

Our Correspondent
Kohima | March 5

Step into any residential building and you will find fresh vegetables or fruits in the home gardens, which is widely practice both in urban and rural areas of the state. 

A housewife, owning a Squash plant in her home garden in Kohima stated that the produces during its peak season established beneficial to her family, saving a monetary value between Rs. 1500 to Rs. 2000 per month. Another delight to her is that the surplus produces from her home garden also generates an additional income amounting to nearly Rs. 1500 per month.

Squash cultivation is viable here and one can find the same is cultivated extensively at the backyard of the home or retaining walls. Home garden to a Naga family can be defined as “land surrounding a house or easily accessible within minutes on which a mixture of annual and perennial plants are grown, together with or without animals, and largely managed by the (women) household members for their own use or commercial purposes, according to a Thematic Report (2009)-GoI-UNDP project (Strengthening of the state plans for human development).

Home gardens are the main component in the agriculture system where most of the vegetables are produced for home consumption and also for sale. These home gardens are normally located near the homestead or at the outskirt of the village, the report said. They are the nearest of the agricultural components in the entire system, and therefore, are by far the most well taken care of.

In these home gardens a mixture of trees, perennials, creepers, climbers and annual crops are cultivated.

The report said that the crop diversity in home garden is impressive. Recent studies of Konyak home gardens revealed that more than 120 plant species are found in large, spacious home gardens. A market survey of Kohima and Mon town showed that out of the total product recorded, 40 are harvested from home gardens (Archana Godbole).

The report said that home garden to the women is not only an economic activity but is also an institute where women exchange knowledge for crop production in their home gardens. In exchanging garden produces, the report said, the women would compare the quality of their crops and learn from each other.

“In the past, a house in the middle of the village is place of honour, but now the better-off in the village are looking forward to shifting their house to the outskirt of the village so as to have a larger home garden,” the report said.