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How Home Gardens Increase Food Security and Climate Resilience
- Sep 29, 2025
- 5 min read
According to the FAO, globally, more than 735 million people faced chronic undernourishment in 2023, and nearly 42% of the world's population could not afford a healthy diet. In this global context, where food systems face pressure from climate change, conflict, and economic volatility, community-driven solutions, such as home gardens, offer great alternatives. Often grown close to homes or within communal lands, home gardens have become a practical and cost-effective strategy to strengthen ecological and community resilience, while supporting several Global Goals, including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 1 (poverty reduction), SDG 3 (health), and SDG 5 (gender equality).
Better Livelihood for Rural Communities
In many rural and Indigenous households, particularly during periods of economic hardship or natural disasters, home gardens rooted in ancient agricultural traditions have become a vital source of food and income, providing year-round access to nutrient-rich crops, with surplus produce sold or traded, generating an income to support other essential needs.
After the pandemic, greater emphasis was placed on reviving traditional production systems and local seeds or crops.
"Since establishing home gardens, families are not only producing for their own consumption but also selling their surplus. On one of the main highways in Atlántida, you can now find families selling their produce. And they keep asking us to help them set up more gardens," shares Víctor Daniel, a field technician working with EcoLogic in Honduras. “After the pandemic, greater emphasis was placed on reviving traditional production systems and local seeds or crops,” he explains. “These practices were already in place, but they gained more visibility, and the readoption of this production system by younger generations became easier,” adds Víctor Daniel.
In terms of health benefits, the FAO reports that small mixed gardens can meet between 10% and 100% of the recommended nutrient intake, depending on crop diversity, increasing access to foods rich in vitamin A, iron, calcium, and vitamin C. Recent studies also link home gardens to improved dietary diversity, reduced hunger, and better maternal and child health outcomes.
Home Gardens as Ecosystems
Home gardens function as integrated agroecological systems, often designed with multilayered planting that mimics forest ecosystems, where trees, shrubs, vines, and ground crops grow together. This approach promotes soil health and supports essential practices like composting, organic pest control, water harvesting, and seed saving.
Recognizing the role of home gardens in also safeguarding genetic diversity is key to building resilient agricultural systems. Many of these gardens contribute to agrobiodiversity by preserving heirloom and nutrient-rich plant varieties often overlooked by commercial agriculture. In Mesoamerica, for instance, staple crops such as common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) exhibit high genetic variation within home gardens, complementing formal conservation efforts by maintaining crops in their cultural and ecological contexts.
Women, Youth, and the Future of Food Systems
Gardening decisions such as crop selection, planting times, soil management, and intercropping are often rooted in rural and traditional knowledge passed down through family lines, particularly through women, who often lead the planning of the gardens.
"In the communities where we work in MAMUCA, women manage 80% of the home gardens," explains Víctor Daniel. "They are responsible for planting, watering, maintaining, and even marketing the produce. They lead the process and teach their sons and daughters, transmitting agricultural knowledge and strengthening household food security."
Other women come to me for seeds and ideas. It makes me proud to know that what I’ve learned can help others and that as women, we are leading change in our communities.
According to the FAO, when women manage home gardens, households experience significant gains in dietary quality, and women's autonomy increases due to their increased decision-making power in household food and income matters.
Cristobel, a woman in a rural community of Atlántida, began with a small home garden and soon expanded to a full manzana of land. Today, she cultivates cassava, plantain, radish, mustard greens, chili peppers, and sweet potato, using the harvest to feed her family and earn income. She now also provides seeds and cuttings to neighbors, becoming a local leader in agroecological resilience. “When I started my garden, I was just hoping to grow enough for my family. Now, other women come to me for seeds and ideas. It makes me proud to know that what I’ve learned can help others and that as women, we are leading change in our communities,” comments Cristobel.
Among the women who started these family gardens, new attitudes of trust and companionship began to emerge.
Cristobel’s experience highlights how women are not only strengthening food security at home but also becoming community leaders by sharing seeds, knowledge, and inspiration. This ripple effect is also visible in other regions where EcoLogic works. In Mexico, for example, the implementation of home gardens in La Chinantla brought unexpected results. As Marco Acevedo, EcoLogic Program Officer in Mexico, explains, “Men, children, and young people also got involved — something we hadn’t initially considered. Their participation has strengthened the community’s social fabric and deepened their connection to the territory.” He adds, “Among the women who started these family gardens, new attitudes of trust and companionship began to emerge. This aspect is rarely highlighted, as well-being is often viewed only through the lens of economic stability.”
While passing on traditional knowledge to younger generations is essential for preserving agrobiodiversity and enabling climate adaptation, home gardens can serve as an accessible platform for youth to engage in agroecology, learn sustainable practices, and participate in local food systems. Globally, 1.2 billion young people aged 15–24 represent a significant opportunity to transform food systems. However, studies caution that the transmission of this knowledge is weakening over time, as younger generations face cultural shifts and structural barriers, such as limited access to land, exclusion from decision-making, and underemployment.
Across 215 communities in the five municipalities of MAMUCA, EcoLogic supports 10 to 15 schools with technical assistance, seeds, and training. Each class manages its own garden, learning agroecology and sharing this knowledge at home, multiplying the impact. Many students apply what they learn at home, sometimes even selling produce to cover school-related expenses. These school gardens are proving to be an effective way to plant the seeds of change across generations.
Growing Local, Thinking Global
By integrating home gardens into agricultural policy, extension services, and conservation programs, governments can support community-led strategies for conservation, nutrition, and resilience, aligning with international frameworks such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Home gardens are rural and ancestral knowledge-based systems that integrate food production, ecological conservation, and cultural continuity. Recognizing and investing in them can empower rural and Indigenous communities to lead the way in building sustainable, climate-resilient food systems. Their impact may begin locally, but their contributions extend globally.
"If we could expand this work, the impact would be tremendous. There are many communities still waiting for home gardens," says Víctor Daniel. "We should also invest more in school gardens, they're key. Students bring the message home and inspire their families to start planting."
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