Abstract:
Sampling a set of households from three districts of the Western Province,
this paper explored the landscape of lockdown home gardening which took
place during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. A
structured questionnaire published online enabled collecting 939 household
responses. A descriptive analysis performed using the IBM SPSS package
highlights that the lockdown conditions have intensified the level of home
gardening of the participants. The study validates the findings from recent
studies that home gardening has no dividing line when it comes to the socioeconomic character of households. Primary benefit of home gardening is of
households’ being in seek of good and healthy consumption, vegetables and
fruits have been the most preferred crop types to grow. Application of organic
fertiliser have been preferred by the majority of the households. This study
supports the notion that urban land scarcity is not a limiting factor for home
gardening. The paper suggests that this home gardening trend reignited
during the Covid-19 lockdown needs to be supported by three means:
promoting healthy lifestyles, connecting government officials with local
home gardeners and local plans being supportive and appreciative of home
gardening.
