Having vegetables grown round the year in the backyard or on your balcony can be a rewarding hobby, but home gardens can also make a major difference to diets, create new entrepreneurs – and even provide a great source of fitness training.

The World Vegetable Centre (WorldVeg for short) has been conducting research and development to improve home gardens for over 30 years in South Asia. Headquartered in Taiwan, it is the world’s largest international agricultural research center focused on vegetables and its South Asian headquarters is based in Hyderabad.

Their research shows that in India a person spends an average of Rs.14/person/week on buying vegetables which can be reduced by 50% i.e. Rs.7/person/week by using the concept of Home Garden. A small area of 6m by 6m can produce more than 250kgs of vegetable which is more than enough for a family of 4 for a year. Now the problem belongs with the availability of HYV (high yield variety) and qualitative seeds at a comparatively low price. Most of the home gardens are maintained by women and they are reluctant to go to markets and purchase seeds. The WVC hence aims to improve this situation at the village level.

Having its research area at Jharkhand because of its large tribal population and limited agricultural development though having the potentiality, WVC with the help of KGVK (Krishi Gram Vikash Kendra) has distributed better quality and improved seeds which were hybrid and even pollinated which can be preserved for years and the result of production were tremendous. Through existing indigenous practice WVC helped Jharkhand farmers to get acquainted with 57 different types of globally available vegetables and crops for e.g. Amarnath, Rosella, Malabar Spinach, KangKong Moringa (Drumsticks) et al. Dr. Warwick Easdown, Regional Director of WVC believes there is a huge market for home garden seed packets even in urban areas.....Read more

Source web page: New indian express