the homestead food production programme (HFPP) has been a path breaking venture that shows the country�s food security, for now and in the future, can be much improved from implementing the programme on a large scale throughout the country

Producing food in the homesteads

The population of Bangladesh is still preponderantly rural although the rate of urban migration of people in this country has been increasing. Nonetheless, more than 80 per cent of the people of Bangladesh have a rural existence and they  live in small homesteads  with some lands  unlike in urban areas where land availability   per family is far smaller compared to their rural counterparts. Many of these households in rural areas may not own any cultivable lands at all. But tiny parcels of lands in and around the homesteads they own,  can be turned quite productive for the purpose of both adding to the nutrition of family members as well as for increasing family income. This was proved from running a progra­mme, Homestead Food Production Programme (HFPP),  among the char  lands (lands  accreted from rivers) dwellers in northern Bangladesh. The programme has proved to be a success and deserves to be introduced extensively in the rural areas of the country.
Under the HFPP, the strips of homestead lands that once remained fallow and totally unproductive, are now blooming in most cases. Female members of households have transformed these lands into flourishing kitchen gardens where vegetables, fruits and even  spices are being cultivated. The fruits and vegetables farmed in this minuscule plots are producing adequately in most cases to meet  the nutritional needs of the individual households. The surpluses are being marketed and  generating incomes. Thus, the gains for the rural households are two fold : they are not having to stress their already poor purchasing power from having to buy a considerable part of their food supply from the markers. Rather, they are making an income from selling the same. Furthermore, the food supply of households and hence the nutritional needs of families are also being met from the raising of poultry birds and goats as activities included in the HFPP.  Thus, the intakes of  proteins from animals sources such as meat and eggs are also increasing for the rural families and  also income  from the sale of  unconsumed poultry birds, eggs and goats.
The HFPP has been a path breaking venture that shows that the country’s food security, for now and in the future, can be considerably improved from implementing the programme on a large scale throughout the country. It should also help in the alleviation of poverty of rural people and in improving their health from better nutrition.

the homestead food production programme (HFPP) has been a path breaking venture that shows the country�s food security, for now and in the future, can be much improved from implementing the programme on a large scale throughout the country

Producing food in the homesteads

The population of Bangladesh is still preponderantly rural although the rate of urban migration of people in this country has been increasing. Nonetheless, more than 80 per cent of the people of Bangladesh have a rural existence and they live in small homesteads with some lands unlike in urban areas where land availability per family is far smaller compared to their rural counterparts. Many of these households in rural areas may not own any cultivable lands at all. But tiny parcels of lands in and around the homesteads they own, can be turned quite productive for the purpose of both adding to the nutrition of family members as well as for increasing family income. This was proved from running a programme, Homestead Food Production Programme (HFPP), among the char lands (lands accreted from rivers) dwellers in northern Bangladesh. The programme has proved to be a success and deserves to be introduced extensively in the rural areas of the country. Under the HFPP, the strips of homestead lands that once remained fallow and totally unproductive, are now blooming in most cases. Female members of households have transformed these lands into flourishing kitchen gardens where vegetables, fruits and even spices are being cultivated. The fruits and vegetables farmed in this minuscule plots are producing adequately in most cases to meet the nutritional needs of the individual households. The surpluses are being marketed and generating incomes. Thus, the gains for the rural households are two fold : they are not having to stress their already poor purchasing power from having to buy a considerable part of their food supply from the markers. Rather, they are making an income from selling the same. Furthermore, the food supply of households and hence the nutritional needs of families are also being met from the raising of poultry birds and goats as activities included in the HFPP. Thus, the intakes of proteins from animals sources such as meat and eggs are also increasing for the rural families and also income from the sale of unconsumed poultry birds, eggs and goats. The HFPP has been a path breaking venture that shows that the countrys food security, for now and in the future, can be considerably improved from implementing the programme on a large scale throughout the country. It should also help in the alleviation of poverty of rural people and in improving their health from better nutrition.