Traditional Homegardens: A Sustainable Household Food Security Strategy in Tribal Communities of East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh

Traditional Homegardens: A Sustainable Household Food Security Strategy in Tribal Communities of East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Traditional Homegardens: A Sustainable Household Food Security Strategy in Tribal Communities of East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh Ajum Bagang, Priyanka Dutta, Likha Rido, Tonlong Wangpan, Sumpam Tangjang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9385787/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Homegardens are multifunctional and sustainable agroforestry systems that are critical towards the improvement of food security and living standards among the tribal and rural populations. The research evaluates the role of the homegardens (small, 0.51 ha) in providing food security to households. Data were gathered in 32 villages of East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh with the help of multi-stage random sampling by means of semi-structured surveys, interviews, and field observations during the period of July 2022-April 2023. Results indicated that 38% of households had small homegardens that played an important role (28.33%) towards the household food consumption, although the size of homegardens was small. Generally, homegardeners had food security levels of 48.6% and these were rated as having moderate-low levels of food security of 47.37% in addition to 3.16% being severely food-insecure. Agriculture productivity (45 households) and income limitations (29 households) were major determinants of food security. Even though the majority of homegardens (84%) belonged to self-owners and it was used on a subsistence basis (99%), chances of future commercialization might exist as homegardens are found close to motorable roads (87%). The impact of homegardens on year-round food security of the population, especially in terms of occasional climatic and economic shocks has been demonstrated, which was the focus of the present study. It is suggested that policy measures that enhance better agronomic activities, access to resources and market access be promoted so that the homegardens play a bigger role in food security, especially for smallholders. Traditional homegardens Household Food Security East Kameng Arunachal Pradesh Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 INTRODUCTION The homegardens are defined as small-scale, multifunctional agroforestry systems where farmers grow many different plants mainly for food (Kumar, 2021 ). Over the years, these systems have changed to reflect local cultural and environmental factors and are important for securing food, medicinal use, protecting biodiversity and enabling people in rural tropical and subtropical areas to make a living sustainably (Sharma et al. 2021 ; Whitney et al. 2017 ). Multifunctional and sustainable homegardens are an important aspect of tribal livelihoods and concomitant enhancement of food security. The diversified production systems help the tribal households to have direct access to nutrient-rich foods, including traditional cereals, tubers, leafy vegetables and fruits and medicinal herbs, which take the lead in the distribution of the dietary diversity and lower malnutrition. The homegardens also guarantee yearlong food security in case of stress periods of either climate or fluctuations in the market. In Uganda, marginalised communities depend on homegardens to supply healthy food all year (Whitney et al. 2017 ). Their strength in economic situations comes from households being able to produce their own needs and bring in income by trading in what they grow in excess (Sharma et al. 2021 ). Fresh vegetables from homegardens help families save money on food, eat a wider variety, and sell the excess produce to make extra income, which improves the family’s food and financial stability (Korpelainen, 2023 ). Households rely on homegardens since they can produce many useful and beautiful plants. They help people in the locality find work, secure enough food and maintain important farming customs, which benefits the community’s overall sustainability (Hou et al. 2024 ). Having a homegarden thus helps support a household by ensuring that there is food to eat (Sharma et al. 2021 ). MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Area The present study was conducted in the East Kameng District, located in the west of Arunachal Pradesh, in northeastern India. The area lies between latitudes 27⁰ 8 and 28⁰ 0 N and longitudes 92⁰ 27 and 93⁰ 22 E. On its western boundary is West Kameng District; Pakke Kessang District is on the south, Papum Pare District on the southeast and Kurung Kumey District on the northeast. It borders China in the northern stretch (Fig. 1 ) . It has a total area of about 2200 sq km. The climate of the region greatly depends on its geography and altitude. Its altitude ranges from 363 to 6244m AMSL. The average annual temperature of the region fluctuates from 17°C during the winter to 27°C during the summer. Most of the people in the district are engaged in agriculture, which is mostly done at the subsistence level through jhum cultivation. They mostly grow paddy, corn, and millets. The major tribes that inhabit this district are Nyishi, Aka, Miji/Sajolang, and Puroik. Survey Method A multi-stage random sampling technique (Thomas & Kumar, 2016 ) was used to make the results representative of homegardeners from the different villages with various agro-climatic features, and traditional farming was selected for this study. In the first step, 32 villages were listed from the stratified list by random selection according to geographic and agricultural areas by picking a random number using a generator. During the second stage, a complete record of homegardens in each selected village was created, and the households were picked for the study by using random sampling. The data were collected with the help of semi-structured survey schedules, interviews, and field observations between July 2022 and April 2023 to gather information on the socioeconomic status of homegardeners, the status of household food security and the extent to which homegardens contributed to both household food security and income. Information on income from homegardens was gathered by asking respondents about the amount of homegarden products they had harvested, sold, and consumed, as well as the income they incurred from the previous year’s sale, using the recall method following Coates et al., 2007 and Nzilano, 2013 . Both qualitative and quantitative data were summarized, coded and analysed using Excel Data-sheet. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The survey revealed that most of the homegardeners were predominantly farmers (63%) (Fig. 2 ), middle-aged (Fig. 3 ) and had large family sizes, with the average household consisting of 6 members, with a standard deviation of 2 members (Table 1 ). Table 1 Distribution of respondents according to family size Categories Frequency Percent (%) Small ( 5members) 70 74 Average No. of members of a household 6 ± 2 ± Represents Standard Error About 84% of the homegardens were self-owned (Table 2 ), indicating that homegardening was mainly a personal or family affair, as suggested by Korpelainen ( 2023 ), whereby the owners had complete control over them. A proportion of the homegardens (6%) were leased mainly to have a share in the crops produced, which brought to light that there is a market whereby people can lease out land to practice homegardening. Moreover, 10% of the total homegardens were community-owned, hence intended to significantly contribute to community development for purposes of social interaction, physical space for recreation and production of food supplements in line with Santos et al. 2021 (Table 2 ). The homegardens studied were placed under three size groups of small, medium and large, of 0.51 ha, respectively. Analysis showed that there was a rather balanced distribution of the households on the basis of size, with relatively higher predominance of small homegardens (38%) (Table 2 ). Table 2 Distribution of homegarden by ownership and age Homegarden's Ownership Percentage Homegarden Size (in ha) Percentage Self-owned 84 Small ( 0.50) 33 The distance of these homegardens and the nearest market revealed that approximately two-thirds of these homegardens were located away from the markets (66%), and only one-third of them were close to the markets (34%) (Fig. 4 ). This indicated that these gardens were not strictly for commercial production, as their location may affect the freshness of produce that gets to the market or may pose additional transport costs to producers who do sell their produce. But motorable roads were far better as most of the homegardens (87%) had good access to them and only a very small percentage (8%) of homegardens were in areas far off the motorable roads (Fig. 4 ). This good road access may contribute to the transport of both commodities and services and this means that in future, there is a prospect of commercialising these homegardens even when they are located far or outside markets. These findings were reflective of earlier studies by Abdoellah et al. ( 2020 ), which reported that proximity to roads assists in the supply of homegarden inputs as well as in the marketing of output from the homegardens. Also, Zhou et al. ( 2022 ) pointed out that the closer the distance to road infrastructure, the better the traffic accessibility, which can facilitate the input supply to homegarden and output marketing for homegarden products, contributing to the sustainability of the Chengdu Plain rural homegarden agroforestry system. The current findings point to the fact that these homegardens are kept for purposes of home consumption rather than commercial purposes, so as to embrace home production that is closer to homes rather than the markets. However, being accessible to roads may also mean that it is open to commercialisation in case market opportunities or conditions are ready. Homegardening in the East Kameng district provided a wide range of benefits and reportedly served at least 10 different purposes for those engaged in the practice (Fig. 6 ). According to the survey, self-consumption (99%) was the most prevalent motivation for homegardeners. This highlighted the importance of homegardening in ensuring food security and providing fresh, nutritious food for households. The result of various other studies (Whitney et al. 2017 ; Saikia et al. 2012 ) also confirms the same. (Fig. 5 ). The household food security is defined as the ability of the household to access a sufficient quantity of food that is both safe and nutritious for an active and healthy life (Korpelainen, 2023 ; Ogutu, et al. 2023 ). Abdoellah et al. ( 2020 ) noted that homegardens are central to improving food security for households, particularly in low-income rural households. They found it beneficial as homegardens serve as an important source of food that can enhance nutritional and pro-ecological sustainability. In the current study, an account of the food insecurity status of the homegardeners in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh was observed as shown in Fig. 6 . The results on food security showed that 48.6% of homegardeners were food-secure, which is a good opportunity in food security within the local scenario since they have access to different and nutritious foods. This number was, however, less than 89% published in a similar study in Sri Lanka (Lowe et al. 2023 ), so it stands to reason that it can be increased. Almost half (47.37%) were characterised by moderate to low-level food insecurity as the food quality, variety, or affordability were of concern, and therefore subject to economic or market shocks. And a mere fraction (3.16%) experienced extreme food insecurity. This points to an inequality that, though homegardening helps sustain food security for many, many still face unequal situations where some lack steady access to sufficient nutrition. The effects of homegarden production on the general food security of the household were explored in three different garden sizes, namely small ( 0.50 ha). As shown in the results, homegardens enormously improved family food security (26.88%), especially small gardens (28.33%), as they contributed to approximately one-third of the household food. This showed the importance of homegardens to subsistence farming, especially by those who have little land (Table 3 ). These results are similar to Chakravarty et al. ( 2017 ), who also noticed that small homegardens in India (the category below 0.1 hectares) had a significant effect on securing household food security compared with larger homegardens. The contribution of small homegardens to food availability in households in the Nainital district is also very notable, as mentioned by Bargali et al . (2015). Considering the chance to diversify diets, the households maintaining homegardens become less vulnerable to external factors, respond better to changes in economics and weather conditions; therefore, they are crucial in terms of food security enhancements, particularly to the households having scarce agricultural land. The presence of supportive policies that further the expansion of homegardens would play a critical role in enhancing household and community food security. The disaggregated contribution scores for food security in homegarden by the garden size, small, medium, and large, were determined to assess how the homegarden size influenced the household food security where the contribution scores were divided into four categories: Very Low = Less than 0. 2; Low = 0. 21 − 0. 40; Moderate = 0. 41 − 0. 60 and High = Above 0. 61. The study established that though few households in the various classes of homegarden size obtained high scores with regard to their contributions (Fig. 7 ), it was a point to note that they had universal roles in contributing to food security. Nevertheless, they were limited by factors like the absence of resources, knowledge, and poor climatic conditions, which did not allow them to be as productive as possible (Fig. 8 ). The fact that the majority of households, regardless of the size of a homegarden, were in the moderate contribution level revealed that homegardens are still a viable food security mechanism, but their production could be improved. The findings are an indication that better management of the homegardens would considerably contribute to the role that they play in the region of household food security. The study also highlighted that there were various aspects of food insecurity at the household level and the major factors that contributed to these aspects were low agricultural yields (as reported by 45 homegardeners) and inefficient income (29 homegardeners) (Fig. 8 ). The above results were also similar to those obtained by Ogutu et al. ( 2023 ) and Dissanayake ( 2020 ), who cited financial difficulties as a significant source of impediment to food security among homegarden-based households. These findings have revealed the necessity of interventions that can enhance farm productivity as well as alternative sources of income. Hence, the study highlighted that in spite of their pivotal role in food security, the production level in contemporary homegardens was found to be inadequate for most of the households. This gap could be bridged by the enhancement of output through better management practices and accessibility to quality inputs. Table 3 Contribution of homegarden to the total household food source in three homegarden size categories Homegarden size categories (ha) No. of household Agriculture (in%) Homegarden (in%) Foraging & Hunting (in%) Grocery Stores & Markets (in%) Government Assistance Programmes (in%) Others (in%) Small ( 0.50) 31 25.21 26.05 0 23.53 23.53 1.68 Total 95 21.39 26.88 2.02 21.39 26.01 2.31 CONCLUSION The study revealed that multifunctional homegardens are important in stimulating food security and livelihoods among the tribal people of East Kameng district in Arunachal Pradesh. The result showed that homegardens, whether large or small, are resilient, biodiverse systems of production, which directly and immediately provide access to nutrient-rich foods, provide climatic and economic shock absorbers, and lead to household dietary diversification. The use of small homegardens (< 0.2 ha) turned out to be especially influential, as it provided close to a third of the household food demands, which was indicative of their importance in subsistence-oriented families that had access to little land. Nevertheless, the research also showed that there are ongoing issues, such as almost half of homegardeners face moderate and severe food insecurity, caused by low agricultural productivity and income limitations. Although the land tenure system (84% self-managed) and access to roads open the possibility of increased production, knowledge, resources, and adaptation to climate change hinder the highest potential. The gap in food security rate in this study (48.6%) in comparison with those that are higher in similar regions (e.g. 89% in Sri Lanka) shows that target interventions are possible. The study revealed that low agricultural yields and inefficient income were the primary factors contributing to household food insecurity among tribal communities of the East Kameng district. However, by shattering these barriers, homegardens have the potential to become self-reliant repositories of food sovereignty that can make an earth-conservation project a pillar tribal families can lean upon to ensure socio-economic safety. A multi-pronged approach, with a combination of capacity building, resource provision, market contact, and community empowerment, should be given priority by policymakers so that homegardens become fully utilized in improving the food security and livelihood of the tribal people of the region that can be achieved by several methods, such as training the traditional homegardeners on agroecological practices and climate-resistant cropping systems, giving them access to quality seeds and equipment through support programs such as microcredit facilities, so that small-scale investment can be made by them. The combination of these plans can turn homegardens into sustainable production units, which can solve the problems of nutritional security, income earning, and biodiversity conservation. Future researchers may focus on the role of homegardens in addressing gender equality and their contribution towards the livelihood enhancement of the households. Significance and future scopes of the study Although small homegardens ( 0.5 ha) also had the highest absolute potential of production has been documented by the study. That leaves one to wonder, is the area of land more important to food security, or do we count more on the management of the land (e.g., crop diversity, intensification)? Two-thirds of homegardens were distant to markets, indicating subsistence practice, but 87% were close to good roads, arguing latent potential of commercialization. This duality means that although the present practice is geared towards self-consumption, there is an infrastructure that would support market integration in the future. The study supports homegardens as a very important food security barrier for the traditional households, which is consistent with the results (Abdoellah et al. 2020 ; Whitney et al . 2018) in the world. It emphasizes the necessity of land-rights security, road networks to maximize the returns in the homegardens and market access, especially among the marginalized tribal communities. The findings of the study disprove the hypothesis that bigger is always better and demonstrate the oversized share of small homegardens in food diversity and resilience. The best homegarden in East Kameng district is not a particular type, but a combination of conservation of biodiversity, generating food + income, preservation of culture, a mini-forest ecosystem. The combination is referred to as "Balong" in the local dialect, which is the best form of home garden due to its multifunctionality and sustainability. Declarations Author Contributions: AB carried out fieldwork, gathered materials, created a methodology, analysed the data, wrote the first draft of the article, and polished it. ST oversaw the investigation and offered recommendations for the methodology and research framework. PD and LR helped with the fieldwork. TW carried out proofreading of the manuscript. Funding: There was no outside support for this study. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the local homegardeners of the East Kameng district for their cooperation and feedback. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. References Abdoellah, O.S., Schneider, M., Nugraha, L. M., Suparman, Y., Voletta, C. T., Withaningsih, S., Parikesit, P., Heptiyanggit, A., & Hakim, L. (2020). Homegarden commercialization: Extent, household characteristics, and effect on food security and food sovereignty in rural Indonesia. Sustainability Science , 15 , 797–815. Bargali, K., Vibhuti, & Shahi, C. (2015). Contribution of rural women in vegetable cultivation in homegardens of Nainital District, Kumaun Himalaya, India. Current Agriculture Research Journal , 3 (2), 91–100. Coates, J., Swindale, A., & Bilinsky, P. (2007). Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for measurement of household food access: Indicator guide (Version 3) . Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project, Academy for Educational Development. Chakravarty, S., Puri, A., Subba, M., Pala, N., & Shukla, G. (2017). Homegardens: Drops to sustainability. In J. Dagar & V. Tewari (Eds.), Agroforestry: Anecdotal to modern science (pp. 517–527). Springer. Dissanayake, D. H. G. (2020). Understanding the global practice of home gardening. In Home Gardens for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods (pp. 1–28). Routledge. Hou, J., Lam, K. L., Chiu, Y. T., Kwong, K. Y., Lau, H. L., Marafa, L. M., et al. (2024). Urban green waste bulking agent is the major source of antimicrobial resistance genes persisted in home compost, not animal manure. Environ. Res. 242:117713. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117713 Korpelainen, H. (2023). Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture: Novel materials for adapting to changing environmental conditions. 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R., Hensel, O., Yeh, C.-H., Gebauer, J., & Luedeling, E. (2017). Homegardens and the future of food and nutrition security in southwest Uganda. Agricultural Systems , 154 , 133–144. Zhou, L., Huang, X., Zhao, C., Pu, T., & Zhang, L. (2022). Regional landscape transformation and sustainability of the rural homegarden agroforestry system in the Chengdu Plain, China. Regional Sustainability , 3 (1), 68–81. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 21 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 13 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 11 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 11 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9385787","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":627256882,"identity":"03bc2368-216f-44be-9bab-2c5331e91c2e","order_by":0,"name":"Ajum Bagang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Rajiv Gandhi University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ajum","middleName":"","lastName":"Bagang","suffix":""},{"id":627256883,"identity":"f14c6114-e11d-46e5-9d75-80aa6c4d9e0b","order_by":1,"name":"Priyanka Dutta","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Rajiv Gandhi 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occupation\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9385787/v1/94229017a43ccb82792e22b9.png"},{"id":107643261,"identity":"13b374e9-beba-4d89-95ce-bee9f90a155d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-23 13:48:24","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":36711,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eHomegardener’s Age\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9385787/v1/83308125f584f8d1dd8ce3b4.png"},{"id":107707657,"identity":"4315bff9-f434-4837-b94c-620b0c67237f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:20:50","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":45863,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eLocation of homegardens concerning their distance from market and road\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9385787/v1/82b474d79a7b6fe6763638c4.png"},{"id":107643262,"identity":"d0ed4b41-a63a-4d27-aa24-5bf748188eb8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-23 13:48:24","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":76987,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003ePurpose of maintaining homegardens\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9385787/v1/2abb831678e43187b7da24b4.png"},{"id":107707337,"identity":"1971c807-394c-4436-804e-3ba4212fe820","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:20:06","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":55521,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eHousehold Food Insecurity Access Prevalence Index (HFIAPI) of homegardeners\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9385787/v1/62280380db798ea1d79c4e35.png"},{"id":107706386,"identity":"937dc85f-19a6-407e-9048-84ae442106d9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:17:59","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"Figure 7","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":62525,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eContribution of differently-sized homegardens to household food security\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"7.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9385787/v1/0bea6b018edc5683974f5be6.png"},{"id":107643264,"identity":"301b6acd-1ff8-4894-931d-d3089cf419b2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-23 13:48:24","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"Figure 8","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":61178,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eKey drivers of food insecurity among homegardeners\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9385787/v1/e6db13bbda5cd64e99077c43.png"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Traditional Homegardens: A Sustainable Household Food Security Strategy in Tribal Communities of East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh","fulltext":[{"header":"INTRODUCTION","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe homegardens are defined as small-scale, multifunctional agroforestry systems where farmers grow many different plants mainly for food (Kumar, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Over the years, these systems have changed to reflect local cultural and environmental factors and are important for securing food, medicinal use, protecting biodiversity and enabling people in rural tropical and subtropical areas to make a living sustainably (Sharma et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Whitney et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMultifunctional and sustainable homegardens are an important aspect of tribal livelihoods and concomitant enhancement of food security. The diversified production systems help the tribal households to have direct access to nutrient-rich foods, including traditional cereals, tubers, leafy vegetables and fruits and medicinal herbs, which take the lead in the distribution of the dietary diversity and lower malnutrition. The homegardens also guarantee yearlong food security in case of stress periods of either climate or fluctuations in the market. In Uganda, marginalised communities depend on homegardens to supply healthy food all year (Whitney et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Their strength in economic situations comes from households being able to produce their own needs and bring in income by trading in what they grow in excess (Sharma et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Fresh vegetables from homegardens help families save money on food, eat a wider variety, and sell the excess produce to make extra income, which improves the family\u0026rsquo;s food and financial stability (Korpelainen, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Households rely on homegardens since they can produce many useful and beautiful plants. They help people in the locality find work, secure enough food and maintain important farming customs, which benefits the community\u0026rsquo;s overall sustainability (Hou et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHaving a homegarden thus helps support a household by ensuring that there is food to eat (Sharma et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"MATERIALS AND METHODS","content":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eStudy Area\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe present study was conducted in the East Kameng District, located in the west of Arunachal Pradesh, in northeastern India. The area lies between latitudes 27⁰ 8 and 28⁰ 0 N and longitudes 92⁰ 27 and 93⁰ 22 E. On its western boundary is West Kameng District; Pakke Kessang District is on the south, Papum Pare District on the southeast and Kurung Kumey District on the northeast. It borders China in the northern stretch (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e)\u003c/b\u003e. It has a total area of about 2200 sq km. The climate of the region greatly depends on its geography and altitude. Its altitude ranges from 363 to 6244m AMSL. The average annual temperature of the region fluctuates from 17\u0026deg;C during the winter to 27\u0026deg;C during the summer. Most of the people in the district are engaged in agriculture, which is mostly done at the subsistence level through jhum cultivation. They mostly grow paddy, corn, and millets. The major tribes that inhabit this district are Nyishi, Aka, Miji/Sajolang, and Puroik.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eSurvey Method\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eA multi-stage random sampling technique (Thomas \u0026amp; Kumar, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e) was used to make the results representative of homegardeners from the different villages with various agro-climatic features, and traditional farming was selected for this study. In the first step, 32 villages were listed from the stratified list by random selection according to geographic and agricultural areas by picking a random number using a generator. During the second stage, a complete record of homegardens in each selected village was created, and the households were picked for the study by using random sampling.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe data were collected with the help of semi-structured survey schedules, interviews, and field observations between July 2022 and April 2023 to gather information on the socioeconomic status of homegardeners, the status of household food security and the extent to which homegardens contributed to both household food security and income. Information on income from homegardens was gathered by asking respondents about the amount of homegarden products they had harvested, sold, and consumed, as well as the income they incurred from the previous year\u0026rsquo;s sale, using the recall method following Coates et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e and Nzilano, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e. Both qualitative and quantitative data were summarized, coded and analysed using Excel Data-sheet.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"RESULTS AND DISCUSSION","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe survey revealed that most of the homegardeners were predominantly farmers (63%) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e), middle-aged (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e) and had large family sizes, with the average household consisting of 6 members, with a standard deviation of 2 members (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistribution of respondents according to family size\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCategories\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercent (%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSmall (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;5 members)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLarge (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;5members)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e70\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e74\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAverage No. of members of a household\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 \u0026plusmn; 2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"3\"\u003e\u0026plusmn; Represents Standard Error\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAbout 84% of the homegardens were self-owned (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e), indicating that homegardening was mainly a personal or family affair, as suggested by Korpelainen (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), whereby the owners had complete control over them. A proportion of the homegardens (6%) were leased mainly to have a share in the crops produced, which brought to light that there is a market whereby people can lease out land to practice homegardening. Moreover, 10% of the total homegardens were community-owned, hence intended to significantly contribute to community development for purposes of social interaction, physical space for recreation and production of food supplements in line with Santos et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). The homegardens studied were placed under three size groups of small, medium and large, of \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.20 ha, 0.21\u0026ndash;0.50 ha and \u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.51 ha, respectively. Analysis showed that there was a rather balanced distribution of the households on the basis of size, with relatively higher predominance of small homegardens (38%) (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDistribution of homegarden by ownership and age\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHomegarden's Ownership\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercentage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHomegarden Size (in ha)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercentage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-owned\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e84\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSmall (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.20)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLeased\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMedium (0.21\u0026ndash;0.50)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCommunity-owned\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLarge (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.50)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe distance of these homegardens and the nearest market revealed that approximately two-thirds of these homegardens were located away from the markets (66%), and only one-third of them were close to the markets (34%) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). This indicated that these gardens were not strictly for commercial production, as their location may affect the freshness of produce that gets to the market or may pose additional transport costs to producers who do sell their produce.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBut motorable roads were far better as most of the homegardens (87%) had good access to them and only a very small percentage (8%) of homegardens were in areas far off the motorable roads (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). This good road access may contribute to the transport of both commodities and services and this means that in future, there is a prospect of commercialising these homegardens even when they are located far or outside markets.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThese findings were reflective of earlier studies by Abdoellah et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), which reported that proximity to roads assists in the supply of homegarden inputs as well as in the marketing of output from the homegardens. Also, Zhou et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) pointed out that the closer the distance to road infrastructure, the better the traffic accessibility, which can facilitate the input supply to homegarden and output marketing for homegarden products, contributing to the sustainability of the Chengdu Plain rural homegarden agroforestry system. The current findings point to the fact that these homegardens are kept for purposes of home consumption rather than commercial purposes, so as to embrace home production that is closer to homes rather than the markets. However, being accessible to roads may also mean that it is open to commercialisation in case market opportunities or conditions are ready.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHomegardening in the East Kameng district provided a wide range of benefits and reportedly served at least 10 different purposes for those engaged in the practice (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). According to the survey, self-consumption (99%) was the most prevalent motivation for homegardeners. This highlighted the importance of homegardening in ensuring food security and providing fresh, nutritious food for households. The result of various other studies (Whitney et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Saikia et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) also confirms the same. (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe household food security is defined as the ability of the household to access a sufficient quantity of food that is both safe and nutritious for an active and healthy life (Korpelainen, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Ogutu, et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Abdoellah et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) noted that homegardens are central to improving food security for households, particularly in low-income rural households. They found it beneficial as homegardens serve as an important source of food that can enhance nutritional and pro-ecological sustainability. In the current study, an account of the food insecurity status of the homegardeners in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh was observed as shown in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e. The results on food security showed that 48.6% of homegardeners were food-secure, which is a good opportunity in food security within the local scenario since they have access to different and nutritious foods. This number was, however, less than 89% published in a similar study in Sri Lanka (Lowe et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), so it stands to reason that it can be increased. Almost half (47.37%) were characterised by moderate to low-level food insecurity as the food quality, variety, or affordability were of concern, and therefore subject to economic or market shocks. And a mere fraction (3.16%) experienced extreme food insecurity. This points to an inequality that, though homegardening helps sustain food security for many, many still face unequal situations where some lack steady access to sufficient nutrition.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe effects of homegarden production on the general food security of the household were explored in three different garden sizes, namely small (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.2 ha), medium (0.21\u0026ndash;0.50 ha), and big (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.50 ha). As shown in the results, homegardens enormously improved family food security (26.88%), especially small gardens (28.33%), as they contributed to approximately one-third of the household food. This showed the importance of homegardens to subsistence farming, especially by those who have little land (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). These results are similar to Chakravarty et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e), who also noticed that small homegardens in India (the category below 0.1 hectares) had a significant effect on securing household food security compared with larger homegardens. The contribution of small homegardens to food availability in households in the Nainital district is also very notable, as mentioned by Bargali \u003cem\u003eet al\u003c/em\u003e. (2015).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConsidering the chance to diversify diets, the households maintaining homegardens become less vulnerable to external factors, respond better to changes in economics and weather conditions; therefore, they are crucial in terms of food security enhancements, particularly to the households having scarce agricultural land. The presence of supportive policies that further the expansion of homegardens would play a critical role in enhancing household and community food security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe disaggregated contribution scores for food security in homegarden by the garden size, small, medium, and large, were determined to assess how the homegarden size influenced the household food security where the contribution scores were divided into four categories: Very Low\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Less than 0. 2; Low\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0. 21\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;0. 40; Moderate\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0. 41\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;0. 60 and High\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Above 0. 61. The study established that though few households in the various classes of homegarden size obtained high scores with regard to their contributions (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e), it was a point to note that they had universal roles in contributing to food security. Nevertheless, they were limited by factors like the absence of resources, knowledge, and poor climatic conditions, which did not allow them to be as productive as possible (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). The fact that the majority of households, regardless of the size of a homegarden, were in the moderate contribution level revealed that homegardens are still a viable food security mechanism, but their production could be improved. The findings are an indication that better management of the homegardens would considerably contribute to the role that they play in the region of household food security.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe study also highlighted that there were various aspects of food insecurity at the household level and the major factors that contributed to these aspects were low agricultural yields (as reported by 45 homegardeners) and inefficient income (29 homegardeners) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). The above results were also similar to those obtained by Ogutu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) and Dissanayake (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), who cited financial difficulties as a significant source of impediment to food security among homegarden-based households. These findings have revealed the necessity of interventions that can enhance farm productivity as well as alternative sources of income.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHence, the study highlighted that in spite of their pivotal role in food security, the production level in contemporary homegardens was found to be inadequate for most of the households. This gap could be bridged by the enhancement of output through better management practices and accessibility to quality inputs.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eContribution of homegarden to the total household food source in three homegarden size categories\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"8\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHomegarden size categories (ha)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo. of household\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAgriculture (in%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHomegarden\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(in%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eForaging\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026amp;\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHunting\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(in%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGrocery Stores \u0026amp; Markets\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(in%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGovernment Assistance Programmes\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(in%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOthers\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(in%)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSmall (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMedium (0.21\u0026ndash;0.50)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.63\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.87\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e24.30\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.87\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLarge (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.50)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.05\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.53\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.53\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.68\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTotal\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e95\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e21.39\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e26.88\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2.02\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e21.39\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e26.01\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2.31\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"CONCLUSION","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe study revealed that multifunctional homegardens are important in stimulating food security and livelihoods among the tribal people of East Kameng district in Arunachal Pradesh. The result showed that homegardens, whether large or small, are resilient, biodiverse systems of production, which directly and immediately provide access to nutrient-rich foods, provide climatic and economic shock absorbers, and lead to household dietary diversification. The use of small homegardens (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.2 ha) turned out to be especially influential, as it provided close to a third of the household food demands, which was indicative of their importance in subsistence-oriented families that had access to little land. Nevertheless, the research also showed that there are ongoing issues, such as almost half of homegardeners face moderate and severe food insecurity, caused by low agricultural productivity and income limitations. Although the land tenure system (84% self-managed) and access to roads open the possibility of increased production, knowledge, resources, and adaptation to climate change hinder the highest potential. The gap in food security rate in this study (48.6%) in comparison with those that are higher in similar regions (e.g. 89% in Sri Lanka) shows that target interventions are possible. The study revealed that low agricultural yields and inefficient income were the primary factors contributing to household food insecurity among tribal communities of the East Kameng district. However, by shattering these barriers, homegardens have the potential to become self-reliant repositories of food sovereignty that can make an earth-conservation project a pillar tribal families can lean upon to ensure socio-economic safety. A multi-pronged approach, with a combination of capacity building, resource provision, market contact, and community empowerment, should be given priority by policymakers so that homegardens become fully utilized in improving the food security and livelihood of the tribal people of the region that can be achieved by several methods, such as training the traditional homegardeners on agroecological practices and climate-resistant cropping systems, giving them access to quality seeds and equipment through support programs such as microcredit facilities, so that small-scale investment can be made by them. The combination of these plans can turn homegardens into sustainable production units, which can solve the problems of nutritional security, income earning, and biodiversity conservation. Future researchers may focus on the role of homegardens in addressing gender equality and their contribution towards the livelihood enhancement of the households.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Significance and future scopes of the study","content":"\u003cp\u003eAlthough small homegardens (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.2 ha) were the most prevalent (38%) and the most important to food security (28.33%), the fact that large homegardens (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.5 ha) also had the highest absolute potential of production has been documented by the study. That leaves one to wonder, is the area of land more important to food security, or do we count more on the management of the land (e.g., crop diversity, intensification)?\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTwo-thirds of homegardens were distant to markets, indicating subsistence practice, but 87% were close to good roads, arguing latent potential of commercialization. This duality means that although the present practice is geared towards self-consumption, there is an infrastructure that would support market integration in the future.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe study supports homegardens as a very important food security barrier for the traditional households, which is consistent with the results (Abdoellah et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Whitney \u003cem\u003eet al\u003c/em\u003e. 2018) in the world. It emphasizes the necessity of land-rights security, road networks to maximize the returns in the homegardens and market access, especially among the marginalized tribal communities.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe findings of the study disprove the hypothesis that bigger is always better and demonstrate the oversized share of small homegardens in food diversity and resilience.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe best homegarden in East Kameng district is not a particular type, but a combination of conservation of biodiversity, generating food\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;income, preservation of culture, a mini-forest ecosystem. The combination is referred to as \"Balong\" in the local dialect, which is the best form of home garden due to its multifunctionality and sustainability.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor Contributions:\u003c/strong\u003e AB carried out fieldwork, gathered materials, created a methodology, analysed the data, wrote the first draft of the article, and polished it. ST oversaw the investigation and offered recommendations for the methodology and research framework. PD and LR helped with the fieldwork. TW carried out proofreading of the manuscript.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFunding: There was no outside support for this study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements:\u003c/strong\u003e The authors would like to thank the local homegardeners of the East Kameng district for their cooperation and feedback.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbdoellah, O.S., Schneider, M., Nugraha, L. M., Suparman, Y., Voletta, C. T., Withaningsih, S., Parikesit, P., Heptiyanggit, A., \u0026amp; Hakim, L. (2020). 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Regional landscape transformation and sustainability of the rural homegarden agroforestry system in the Chengdu Plain, China. \u003cem\u003eRegional Sustainability\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e3\u003c/em\u003e(1), 68\u0026ndash;81.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"agroforestry-systems","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"agfo","sideBox":"Learn more about [Agroforestry Systems](http://link.springer.com/journal/10457)","snPcode":"10457","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10457/3","title":"Agroforestry Systems","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Traditional homegardens, Household Food Security, East Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9385787/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9385787/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eHomegardens are multifunctional and sustainable agroforestry systems that are critical towards the improvement of food security and living standards among the tribal and rural populations. The research evaluates the role of the homegardens (small, \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.20 ha; medium, 0.21 0.50 ha; large, \u0026gt; 0.51 ha) in providing food security to households. Data were gathered in 32 villages of East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh with the help of multi-stage random sampling by means of semi-structured surveys, interviews, and field observations during the period of July 2022-April 2023. Results indicated that 38% of households had small homegardens that played an important role (28.33%) towards the household food consumption, although the size of homegardens was small. Generally, homegardeners had food security levels of 48.6% and these were rated as having moderate-low levels of food security of 47.37% in addition to 3.16% being severely food-insecure. Agriculture productivity (45 households) and income limitations (29 households) were major determinants of food security. Even though the majority of homegardens (84%) belonged to self-owners and it was used on a subsistence basis (99%), chances of future commercialization might exist as homegardens are found close to motorable roads (87%). The impact of homegardens on year-round food security of the population, especially in terms of occasional climatic and economic shocks has been demonstrated, which was the focus of the present study. It is suggested that policy measures that enhance better agronomic activities, access to resources and market access be promoted so that the homegardens play a bigger role in food security, especially for smallholders.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Traditional Homegardens: A Sustainable Household Food Security Strategy in Tribal Communities of East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-23 13:48:19","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9385787/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-21T18:47:45+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"337927724314872016361692046203771174999","date":"2026-04-16T12:37:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"304216413409280461401534712188629664986","date":"2026-04-16T06:25:16+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-04-16T06:22:35+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-04-13T14:44:44+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-04-11T13:59:01+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Agroforestry Systems","date":"2026-04-11T07:49:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"agroforestry-systems","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"agfo","sideBox":"Learn more about [Agroforestry Systems](http://link.springer.com/journal/10457)","snPcode":"10457","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10457/3","title":"Agroforestry Systems","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3c9bc1a2-8044-4530-b400-60342798936d","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 23rd, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-23T13:48:20+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-23 13:48:19","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9385787","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9385787","identity":"rs-9385787","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}