0.015-0.5 ha in Vietnam (Trinh et al., 2002), 0.01-0.5 ha in Ethiopia (Asfaw, 2002) and less
than 0.5 ha in Kerala, India (KSLUB, 1995).
Table 3. Home garden size across different regions
Eco-zones Size of HG % of Respondents
Ilam Gulmi
<250m^2 (<0.5 Ropani) 10 88
250-500m^2 (0.5-1 Ropani) 5 10
Hills>500m^2 (>1 Ropani) 85 2
Jhapa Rupandehi
<167m^2 (<0.5 Kattha) 31 90
167-333m^2 (0.5-1 Kattha) 24 9Terai
333m^2 (>1 Kattha) 45 1
Note: Ropani and Kattha is the locally used land unit in Nepalese hills and Terai respectively.
Only a small proportion, (2-4%) of the total agricultural land was found under home gardens
except in Ilam, where it was found 12%. The finding is very similar to that in Vietnam, 4%
(Trinh et al. 2002) and smaller than in Java, Indonesia, where it occupies 20% of the total
arable land (Jensen 1993).
Species composition in home garden
We found a maximum of 87 plant species in a single home garden. More than 80%
households have 11-50 species in their home gardens. It was found that species diversity
was comparatively high in eastern parts than in western parts and in hills than in the Terai
region. There was a significant (p<0.05) relationship between total species diversity and
ecological region. Ecological factors such as temperature, soil type, stresses and other
climatic parameters influence the species diversity. Species in home gardens are generally
affected by ecological factors, ethnic composition, migration, area of home gardens and
wealth status (Shrestha et al., 2002; Sunwar, 2003). We found that the home gardens of
Ilam were rich in diversity as more than 60% of the home gardens had more than 30 species
whereas in Rupandehi, more than 60% of home gardens had less than 20 species (Table 4).
Table 4. No. of species found in home gardens across agro-ecosite
Total no. of species Gulmi (%) Ilam (%) Jhapa (%) Rupandehi (%)
1-10 5.6 2.2 8.9 21.1
11-20 32.2 5.6 36.7 40.0
21-30 25.6 32.2 22.2 24.4
31-40 21.1 24.4 18.9 10.0
41-50 10.0 26.7 10.0 4.4
51-60 3.3 4.4 1.1 1.1
61-70 1.1 3.3 1.1
71-80 1.1 1.1
81-90 1.1
Though the correlation between the home garden area, ethnic composition, wealth status
and total species diversity was found to be statistically non-significant (p>0.05), the general
trend shows that there is a higher species diversity in the home gardens of migrants (BC is
Brahmin and Chhetris) than that of indigenous community in terai, in resource-rich than
resource poor and in large home gardens than in small gardens.
Religiously important plant species like cotton, tulasi (Ocimum sanctum), Bar (Ficus
bengalensis) and Pipal (F. religiosa) were found comparatively higher (14%) in home
gardens of Gulmi than in other sites as there is dominance of Brahmin/Chhetri communities
in the sampled households. Similar findings were reported by Sunwar (2003) in her study.
Farmers of Ilam have maintained both the organic-based home garden for home