The contribution of home gardens to sustainable community development from the perspectives of residents in Northern Ghana

Abstract In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), home gardening supports approximately 20% of household food needs, highlighting its significance in addressing food insecurity. This practice has emerged as a vital strategy for promoting sustainable community development in diverse ways. Using Bolgatanga, Ghana, as a case study, this study explores the socioecological and economic benefits of home gardening and their associations with socioeconomic characteristics. In total, 370 residents were interviewed, and the data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that home gardening provides environmental benefits, such as reducing temperature and erosion; social benefits, including enhanced well-being and cohesion; and economic benefits, such as reduced food costs and increased profits. The findings indicated statistically significant associations between environmental benefits, such as soil fertility enrichment (p < 0.01) and natural cooling (p < 0.01); social benefits, including stress reduction (p < 0.01); and economic benefits, such as sustainable living through composting (p < 0.01), and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents. The Relative Importance Index (RII) analysis identified biodiversity enhancement as the most significant environmental benefit, cost savings from homegrown food as the most important economic benefit, and stress reduction as the most significant social benefit. The study concludes that home gardening significantly contributes to sustainable community development through its environmental, social, and economic benefits, therefore it is essential for the Municipal Agriculture Department, non-profit organisations to collaborate with communities in terms of training programmes and resources for home gardening practices to maximize these benefits.