The ASEAN-AVRDC Regional Network for Vegetable Research and Development (AARNET) hosted an expert consultation from 27-30 August 2012 at the Davis Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand to discuss strategies on home, school, hospital and other public facility vegetable gardens. These gardens are applicable throughout the ASEAN region and can contribute to food and nutritional security while the region tackles the impact of climate change on agricultural and horticultural productivity.

Home gardens (sometimes termed nutrition gardens) can provide a wide variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the year, contributing significantly to a nutritious diet for family members and offering opportunities for income generation through sale of extra produce. School, community and disaster-recovery gardens are other types of nutrition gardens. School and community gardens are advocated where malnutrition is a concern for the vulnerable members of society (e.g. children, pregnant women and those with chronic diseases). School and community gardens encourage the production and consumption of a wide diversity of vegetables and fruit, which are particularly important when persuading children to favor a balanced and nutritious diet as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Home gardens can also provide work opportunities for others. Home gardens offer a low-risk opportunity for the poor to develop skills in growing vegetables for home use and then for local sale.  Home gardens are enterprises that can usually be undertaken by most of the rural and even urban poor irrespective of their level of land resources, educational status, cash investment capacity or gender. Land needs and input costs for home gardens are small and family labor requirements are usually sufficient. Even where land is not readily available, options such as container gardening can contribute to household meals. Irrigation with household wastewater and compost produced from household organic waste provide opportunities to make good use of limited resources.

With participation of home and school garden specialists from the AARNET member countries and Taiwan, as well as some invited speakers, the Expert Consultation will formulate strategies and identify mechanisms to advocate and implement these strategies. Success stories will be presented and highlighted so that lessons learned can be shared and opportunities to extend those successes developed.

Participants will discuss and develop small projects to support the adaptation and promotion of nutrition-focused home and public facility gardens in their national environment and communities, with information and technical support from AARNET member organizations and countries.