Home Gardens in Nepal

(Tibeto Burmese groups)

Baikunthapur

(Indo-Aryan group)

4.25 0.016 0.896

Rupandehi overall 4.25 0.018 0.880

Mid-hill Gulmi (Indo-Aryan group) 4.42 0.014 0.906

This can be further explained by comparing the counts of the species. Out of the 131
species, 39 were most frequently grown in many of the home gardens in Mid-hill Gulmi
whereas, in the terai, Rupandehi, out of 123 species only 18 are grown by many farmers in
their home gardens (Figure 1). This indicates that only 18 species dominated the home
gardens in Rupandehi as compared to 39 in Gulmi. Also the Simpson’s Index is higher and
Evenness Index is lower in the terai, which also show that home gardens of Gulmi are richer
in diversity than those of terai.

1 2-5 6-10 11-20 21-50 51-79

No of households

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

No of Species

Species in terai Species in Mid-hill

18

39

Figure 1 showing the species numbers grown by households

The most frequently reported vegetables species were Luffa cylindrica L. M. Roem, Dolichos
lablab L., Cucurbita pepo L. and Brassica juncea L, in home gardens of both regions.
Similarly, Capsicum annum L., Coriandrum sativum L. Allium sativum L.; Carica papaya L.
and Mangifera indica; L. Leucaena leucocephala (Lamk.) de Wit. and Morus alba L were
frequently reported spice, fruit and fodder species in both of the study sites.

The current assessment of the diversity indicated that the Shannon- Weaver can measure
the species richness but it can not explain whether the species are abundant or not. But as a
rule, the diversity of the particular location will be higher if the species are distributed equally
or are abundant. In another scenario if there is presence of many species and if many of
these are grown by few farmers, which only adds to the species richness of the home
gardens, it does not explain the diversity richness of the home garden. Similarly, Simpson
Index can measure the dominance of the species at a particular community and give the
measurement on whether the community is dominated by few species or not. But, this tool
too lacks the information on which of the species is dominant in the community. The equal
abundant of the species in home gardens can be measured through Evenness Index.
Zaldivar et al., (2002) have used both used SWI and Evenness Index to measure species
diversity in home gardens of Costa Rica. Therefore, the use of all these three diversity
indices together gives better measurement on species diversity of home gardens. Proper
assessment of species diversity of home gardens is essential, because the species diversity
in home gardens can contribute to household food security and provide dietary diversity that
ultimately contributes to nutritional security at the household level. Therefore, using
Simpson’s and Evenness Index with SWI are extremely important in measuring and
explaining the species diversity in home gardens. This measurement can help in better