By Naa Shormei Odonkor
Koforidua (E/R), Sept. 10, GNA – The public has been urged to reconsider home gardening as a means of ensuring the general food security in Ghana.
A home garden is described as a mixed agricultural system that includes the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, plantation crops, spices, herbs, and rearing of animals in or near a residence.
Ms Tharzia Numako Akwetey, the Director of Agriculture, New Juaben South Municipality, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that agriculture was not only for residents in rural communities but also for those in urban areas.
She said the Department of Agriculture was encouraging home gardening to inspire everyone, particularly city dwellers, to “grow what they eat and eat what they grow.”
Home gardening would also help ensure healthy living and enhance the living standards of people, in addition to promoting food security, she said.
Ms Akwetey said her office had educated some churches and groups within two zones out of four created by the Department on home gardening.
However, the motivation for agricultural extension officers and access to fuel for their vehicles had been a hindrance to achieving that goal, she said.
The Director appealed to the Government and other stakeholders to help resolve those problems to promote domestic gardening throughout the country.
“Since the beginning of time, when people relied on small-scale subsistence farming around their homes, home gardens have been the foundation upon which commercial and modern farming systems have grown” she added.
GNA