Assessing the role and effectiveness of kitchen gardening toward food security in Punjab, Pakistan: a case of district Bahawalpur

Abstract

Food security is one of the leading issues of many governments globally. Kitchen gardening is the innovative project initiated by the Government of Punjab (Pakistan) to provide instant aid to dwellers by self-produced fresh vegetables. The present investigation was conducted in the district Bahawalpur. The objectives were to explore the main benefits of kitchen gardening, to identify the places used for this activity, to identify the growers’ perceptions and to give suggestions to improve the project. Two urban and one rural tehsils of district Bahawalpur were selected as study areas. Secondary data were collected from several sources while primary data gathered through a mobile phone survey and analyzed by applying descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS software. The findings have justified that dominant share of growers have sown the seed kits for vegetables production, mostly for home consumption and was satisfied with the quality and price of seed kit. Most of the growers certified the efficiency of the project in the regular provision of fresh and healthy vegetables. Hence, the project is a successful endeavor and still continuing in the province, benefiting the masses and encouraging urban agriculture. The outcome of the investigation is suggestions to further improve this project.

Keywords:

• Food security
• kitchen gardening
• urban agriculture
• district Bahawalpur
• Punjab province

Acknowledgements

The authors are deeply grateful to the Executive District Officer (EDO) Agriculture, District Officer Agriculture (Extension) Bahawalpur and their office clerical staff for the provision of essential secondary data, support and cooperative behavior.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Muhammad Mohsin

Muhammad Mushahid Anwar, PhD Geography, He is working as professor and chair of Department of Geography at University of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan. His area of interest is urban landscape ecology, urban planning.

Muhammad Mushahid Anwar

Muhammad Mohsin, M.Phil Geography, He is working as lecturer of Geography at Department of Geography, Govt. S.E. College, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. His area of interest is Urban Planning, Urban Morphology and Structure, Urban Problems, Urban Ecology, Rural-urban Fringe Dynamics.

Farrukh Jamal

Farukh Jamal is PhD scholar of statistics at Department of Statistics, The Islamia University Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. His area of interest is Applied Statistics, Probability, Statistical Inference, Econometrics. He is working as lecturer, Govt. S.A. Postgraduate College, Dera Nawab Sahib, Bahawalpur.

Fahad Ajmal

Fahad Ajmal is a PhD scholar at Department of Botany, University of The Punjab Lahore, Pakistan. His area of interest is Molecular Biology, Plant Physiology, Agronomy and Stress Physiology. He is working as subject specialist of Botany at Lahore, Pakistan

Juergen Breuste

Juergan Breuste is PhD Geography. He is working as professor and chair of Urban Landscape Ecology at Department of Geology and Geography at Salzburg University, Austria.