Policy Support for Home Gardens in Vietnam Can Link to Sustainable Development Goals

Rachmat Mulia, Tam Thi Le, Nghia Dai Tran and Elisabeth Simelton
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Rachmat Mulia: World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Hanoi 10000, Vietnam
Tam Thi Le: World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Hanoi 10000, Vietnam
Nghia Dai Tran: Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), Hanoi 10000, Vietnam
Elisabeth Simelton: World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Hanoi 10000, Vietnam

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: Despite research evidence on the diverse benefits of home gardens and their potential contributions to multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs), the role of policy towards supporting these contributions remains unclear in developing countries like Vietnam. In this study, we found that 25 out of Vietnam’s 86 key rural development and agricultural policies enacted over the last decade (2010–2021) set specific targets for home gardens. The targets, however, focus strongly on income generation with indicators stipulating e.g., 50–80% of total income from home gardens should be generated by the main product. The policies set no specific target for other potential roles of home gardens beyond the economy of rural households and can exacerbate the widespread transformation of home gardens in Vietnam into farming practices with low crop diversity. The latter potentially limits contributions of home gardens to two (SDG 1, 10) of at least 11 (SDG 1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10–13, 15) of Vietnam’s 17 SDGs. To narrow the gap between research and policy in home garden contributions to Vietnam’s SDGs, we need to better mainstream integrated home garden systems and their diverse benefits, enrich policy targets beyond the income generation, and strengthen coordination among state departments for policy implementation.

Keywords: agroforestry; crop diversification; multi-functionality; plant genetic diversity; rural development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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