This project is a social advocacy to raise awareness and encourage more people especially the Youth into backyard gardening (farming). Growing our own food opens up a great learning opportunity thereby reduces the pressure on the environment by commercial agriculture. Start small and plant things you’d really like to eat.

Backyard gardening (farming) to me is simply living a more self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle of feeding and protecting the environment.

John Aggrey

IMPORTANCE OF BACKYARD GARDENING

The food is fresher and more nutritious; 2) the carbon footprint is likely lower compared to food that travels long distances; 3) you are more aware of the way your food was produced and the social conditions for farmers.

Society and Community

• Community Gardens can serve as beautification spots, and create an ambience of tranquillity for moods
• In a society, it can create a food secure community where residents do not need to rely fully on vendors to supply fresh produce.
• Gardens can foster a great sense of belonging as it makes everyone to play a vital role in its growth and success for bumper harvest.
• This also serves as a learning tool for school communities and provide such schools with fresh produce for a healthy living. This can also lead to and motivate these young minds to take up farming as a hobby, passion and profession.

You and The Family

• Gardening increases physical activity. It is a great way to engage the whole family in physical activity and lets them help to take responsibility for the garden.
• Growing a garden gives you a new appreciation for nature, when you can have the opportunity to see how things grow.
• Gardening gives you the opportunity to give back. If you have an abundant garden, you might give some of your produce to the local soup kitchen or food bank.
• This can be a great time to create memories with your children, memories that can last a lifetime.
• Organically growing your own fruits and vegetables can offer you the opportunity to reduce the amount of chemicals absorbed in the soil.
• Gardening makes you appreciate nature, and the environment.
• Gardening may stimulate many new interests. You may want to learn more about sustainable diet, landscape, environment, photography, nutrition and climate change.

Environment

Produce peels and waste can create a lot of green waste and takes up a lot of space in the garbage can. Recycle them to make your own compost. It is less expensive than buying fertilizers.

It can add to the aesthetics and beauty of landscapes in the area or neighbourhood. By growing your own food, you are helping to reduce the high amounts of burning fossil fuels that fill our environment as a direct result of importing foods from commercial farmers. You also are reducing waste from food packaging materials such as man-made plastics and cardboard, that also travel hundreds and thousands of miles.

Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources.

– FAO, 2010, Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity.

The time is already spent and the Race to Climate Action is upon us!This backyard gardening is to cause the desire and interest in the Youth in communities around the globe to use backyard gardening (farming) as a hobby, practice, self-business to save our environment, be economically self reliant and above all contribute to the targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1- 17) with emphasis on SDGs 1, 2, 3, 8, 13, and 17). The surest way to achieve Agenda 2030 and beyond is collective effort!