The Impact of Urban Home Gardening on Household Socio-economy

Home gardens are an important consideration in terms of household socio-economy and yet their significance is often unrecognized. This is particularly more relevant in tropical region such as Ethiopia as home gardens have been a way of life for centuries in the region generally and in Mekelle city in particular. The present study tries to examine the urban home garden practices and evaluate their significance towards household socio-economy in Mekelle city. A total of 89 home gardens were randomly selected for the study. A combination of complete plant inventory, demarcation of plots with 10m*10m for tree plants, 5m*5m for shrubs and 1m* 1m for herbs as well as interview were used to collect data. The result showed that the cultivated land size of sample home gardens ranged from 50-500m2 with mean 214.16m2. About 99% of the assessed home gardens were established on open areas of their garden in response to getting more environmental benefits, food and cash to support family. Household income from home garden per year ranges from 657.00 to 38000.00 Birr with average per household income of 9411.20 Birr. The regression analysis showed that farm size, distance from water source and distance from nursery site are significantly affected the income of households at less than 1% probability level as well as educational status of the household is also influenced the income from home garden at less than 5% probability level. The present study exposed that contribution of urban home gardening goes beyond gap filling where, economic important and environmental benefited crops dominated in the home garden. Paying due attention to urban home garden development has significant role in addressing household socio-economy benefits in the future. The availability of water, improved seeds and incidence of pests and insects are the most determinant factors that influence the sustainability of urban home gardening. Keywords: Ethiopia, home garden, household, Mekelle, socio-economy, urba