8. August 2025
Terre des hommes (Tdh) aims to improve the nutritional status of children under five years of age suffering from moderate and severe malnutrition in the flood-prone Sundarbans region in India. To strengthen the resilience of vulnerable families, Tdh promotes household food security and dietary diversity through the introduction of Keyhole Gardens—a sustainable and space-efficient model for homestead vegetable cultivation which is part of the catalogue of practical exercises and the catalogue of technology of the Blue Schools kit. These circular, raised-bed gardens are built using locally available materials and are designed for year-round vegetable production, even during floods. Women are trained in Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA) practices, enabling them to build, maintain, and monitor the gardens, while also engaging in seed and material sharing with neighbors.
The gardens require minimal water and use kitchen and natural waste (like straw, weeds, ash, and cow dung) to create compost, improving soil fertility and ensuring a steady supply of organic, nutritious vegetables. Various types of vegetables—leafy greens, gourds, roots, and spices—can be grown, enhancing access to key micronutrients and supporting community-led nutrition solutions in climate-vulnerable areas.
A study was initiated to understand the seasonality of production and crop diversity in the keyhole gardens; and to what extent the nutritional supplements provided by keyhole gardens have been able to improve the dietary diversity of the targeted families. A comprehensive survey with a participatory approach was adopted to conduct the study. The study methodology consisted of the selection of area and samples, household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. A comparative study was also done, using data collected from reference groups (other than the keyhole gardeners) residing in the same villages and facing similar challenges including water crises, soil salinity, water logging, and other predicaments like pandemics, lockdowns, cyclones, joblessness, inflation, and others. Both primary and secondary levels of information were used and analysed to draw conclusions and recommendations.
Key findings from the study are as following
- Besides all the challenges faced (geographical, socio-political, natural) in the past year, keyhole gardeners were able to manage a good harvest of different varieties of vegetables throughout the year.
- The productivity of Keyhole nutritional gardens was found to be reasonably high within its limited area of production.
- The diversity of cropping and consumption patterns in Keyhole Gardener households is significant from the nutritional aspect, while the cropping pattern of a traditional garden is more guided by the seasonal market demand.
- The weekly household consumption from the Keyhole Gardens is much higher than from the traditional gardens.
- All the Keyhole gardeners were found to be using organic products in their garden whereas the control gardeners were either using nothing or chemical products in their garden