Tropical Homegardens in Bangladesh: Characteristics and Sustainability

Abstract

Homegardens are a species-rich and complex multistrata agroecosystem in the tropics. Those traditionally managed farming systems are of immense value in rural socioeconomy. The basic functions of tropical homegardens are generation of products for subsistence and earning cash income in areas with good market structure. Homegardens also provide a range of environmental services. In Bangladesh at least 20 million people maintain homegardens. Despite high social, ecological and economic functions, science of homegarden systems is not advanced. In this article I review the major advances in homegarden research. For that purpose I compared Bangladeshi homegardens with that of other tropical regions. Research findings on Bangladesh homegardens show that with a varying landholding size the homegardens differ in structure and composition across various agroecological regions of the country. Studies also report species richness from less than one hundred to more than four hundred occupying different strata. High socioeconomic performance, use of lcw external inputs, high dependency on household labor force and traditional - sometimes indigenous management techniques are reported as some common characteristics in most homegardens of Bangladesh.