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Kitchen gardening activities conducted under the Sustainable Farming project in Badin aim to improve food security and household nutrition for disaster affected communities. Mirzadi, wife of Photo Khan and mother of eight children, belonging to Abdul Karim Leghari village in Badin, is one of the most active participants of the kitchen gardening trainings in Badin.

Six of Mirzadi’s children are married while she lives with two of her unmarried sons, who work for daily wages as labourers and sharecroppers in the area, supporting their mother and their very old and unwell father.  The family does not own any land and relies solely on the income of the two young boys.

Mirzadi had no experience or expertise of growing vegetables before the kitchen gardening training. Earlier, she purchased vegetables for cooking from the local markets. This was expensive for her as she had to travel a distance to reach the markets and then buy the vegetables at whatever rates were offered. Considering the menial income of her sons, this was difficult to afford very often.

At the kitchen gardening trainings, Mirzadi learnt basic gardening skills and the knowledge to grow her own vegetables in her own little garden. Mirzadi found the “nutrition session” most interesting as it highlighted the importance of providing her family with nutritious food by consuming fresh and chemical free vegetables.

Upon the completion of the training, Mirzadi prepared a patch of land near her house to sow the seeds she received after the training. Soon after the seeds cultivated, producing fresh nutritious vegetables, Mirzadi observed a substantial decrease in her household, especially kitchen, expenses. This saving allowed her to keep the money for other domestic matters and healthcare needs. Mirzadi is successfully growing spinach, carrots, radish, garlic, coriander and tomatoes in her garden.

“My family is regularly consuming nutritious food including fresh and green vegetables from my kitchen garden,”

Mirzadi happily expressed.

“Kitchen Garden has proven to be very useful for our family as it has ensured a greater degree of self-sufficiency. Though my grandsons and granddaughters are living separately, I send them freshly grown vegetables from my garden to ensure their healthy diet as well.”

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Hasan of village Fazal Wadho, participant, expressed, “We were wasting valuable natural resources, but now I will utilize these resources for sustainable agriculture practices.”

An exposure visit of sixty farmers from Badin, Sindh, to the Central Cotton Research Institute, Agriculture Training Institute and Wheat Research Institute was conducted and facilitated in Sakrand last week of March under the Promoting Sustainable Agriculture Farming project supported by Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB).

Mr. Muhammad Yousaf Channa, coordinator and senior Instructor for the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) unit at Agriculture Training Institute in Sakrand, facilitated the visit along with Community World Service Asia staff. The participants were welcomed by Dr. Abdul Waris Sanjrani, Director,Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI).

The CCRI is engaged in multidisciplinary researches conducted in the field of Agronomy, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Cytogenetics, Entomology, Plant Pathology, Plant Physiology and a newly established section, Transfer of Technology. Since its inception, the Institute has successfully evolved considerable number of high yielding cotton varieties at required fiber qualities. Abdullah Keerio and Saira Bano, Scientific officers at the Institute, introduced production technology to the participants. Shah Nawaz Khoro, Senior Scientific Officer, explained Cotton Insect pests. A documentary was also screened showing the cotton production technology.

Abdul Wahab Soomro and Vishandas Suthar, also Scientific officers at the Institute, facilitated the participants through their visit of the greenhouse placed with parental genes of cotton plants imported from various countries for development of further progenies. The Glass house was another visiting site in the location where cotton cultivars were planted in winter in controlled environments to save the time required for evaluation of new variety. The participants were amazed to visit the Cold Room where decades old cotton seeds are preserved.

At the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), the group of visiting farmers was welcomed by Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Jamali, Principal of the Institute (ATI). The farmers were briefed about the integrated crop and pest management process and systems by the coordinator at ATI and experienced new procedures of organic backyard gardening, compost making, optimum use of available waste resources for more productive plantation and innovative methods to measure soil moisture. At the Wheat Research Institute, Dr. Kareem Bux Lagari, briefed the participants regarding the varieties of wheat grown in experimental fields and demonstrated how different strains and wheat are developed. The farmers then visited the demonstration field where production technologies were functioning and lastly to the Wheat Museum where a large variety of wheat was on display.

The Sindhi farming community is very apprehensive about the current cropping season. They are looking for best suitable crop varieties in accordance to the soil composition and the changing climate. Previously they use to purchase any variety of plant to yield but these exposure visits have made the farmers more aware about seed selection and crop management as per changing seasons. Moreover, the farmers are now planning to use waste material for crop and vegetable production. One of the participant has already started making compost from the waste material and is planning to go for ridge sowing in the following wheat season to collect a good yield.

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Aqlan, a thirty-two year old mother of five school going children financially supports her family, including her husband and brother-in-law. Her main source of income is earned through agricultural fieldwork and livestock management.

“Badin district is situated at the tail end of canal irrigation system. Therefore, the agriculture fields are faced by severe water scarcity. The land has low productivity due to unfertile soil and lack of water. We have to depend on livestock rearing to supplement family earning,”

an exhausted Aqlan explains.

Nominated as a kitchen gardening training participant of a disaster response project in Badin, Aqsa received vegetable seeds for home-growing at her home yard in her village, Mohammad Abbas Thebo.

“Puran Nadi, a natural flow of River Indus, not only irrigates thousands of acres of land but also provides drinking water to the surrounding communities. Sadly, the disposal of chemical waste in the river has not only made the water undrinkable but unusable for irrigation as well. The contaminated water is gradually devouring the fertile soil land as well. After receiving the kitchen gardening training and vegetable seeds, I decided to prepare a patch of land for sowing the seeds to produce fresh vegetables, with the support of my family.”

As a result, Aqlan’s family grew garden-fresh vegetables on a daily basis, improving the quality and quantity of their food consumption.

“Kitchen gardening enhanced my family’s food diversification as it helps me to grow different kinds of vegetables seasonally. Our expense on purchasing vegetables from market has decreased exceptionally. I have also generated revenue of PKR5000 by selling the surplus in the nearby market.”

Aqsa revealed that she also bought a male goat from her savings which will benefit her family in the long run.

“We are planning to sell the goat on the festive of Eid for a good price of PKR25000. I am so pleased that I have been given a chance to do something meaningful in my life for my family’s support and care.”

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DurationOct 01, 2015 — Mar 31, 2016
LocationDistrict Sujawal of Sindh Province, Pakistan
Key Activities
  • Village Committee Formation
  • Monthly food distribution for five consecutive months
  • Agriculture inputs (seeds) distribution
  • Training on Integrated Crop Management
  • Trainings on CBDRM
Participants2,100 flood affected food insecure families

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DurationOct 01, 2015 — Sep 30, 2018
LocationUC Pangrio and Khairpur Gambo of Taluka Tando Bhago, District Badin, Sindh
Key Activities
  • Season long on farm training of 400 farmer families in sustainable agriculture
  • 3 exposure visit, organized at Sindh university of Agriculture Tando Jam, Wheat research institute Sakrand, Central Cotton research Institute Sakrand and agriculture training institute Sakrand.
  • 3 farmer festival to celebrate the harvests of crops and kitchen gardening vegetables produce
  • Arboriculture campaign by plantation of 11,340 plant sampling
  • Distribution of kitchen gardening vegetable seed and tool kit among 650 farmer families
  • Soil sampling of 650 farmer families
Participants650 farmer families
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