Abstract:
Coastal areas are not conducive to cultivating a variety of crops due to the
occurrence of natural disasters. Therefore, homestead gardening has the potential to
increase food production and consumption in coastal households, thereby enhancing
climate resilience. Adopting homestead gardening as an adaptation measure for
climate change can improve food security in climate-vulnerable areas. This study
identified factors associated with the adoption of homestead gardening and their
impacts on dietary diversity in coastal areas of Bangladesh. A total of 750 coastal
households were surveyed. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, household
dietary diversity score, endogenous switching regression model, and propensity
score matching method were applied. According to the results, only 14.26% of
coastal households adopted homestead gardening. The likelihood of adoption
was increased by factors, such as age, spousal education, own cultivable land
size, salinity perception, and mobile phone ownership. Results of the endogenous
switching regression model indicated that the adopters of homestead gardens had
a 13-point greater mean probability of a higher household dietary diversity score
than the non-adopters. Results of the propensity score matching also showed a
nearly identical finding. A strong extension service that uses modern information
technology is required to disseminate homestead gardening technology in coastal
areas. Climate change awareness initiatives are recommended to raise households
cognizance on the negative effects of climate change, which in turn helps increase
the adoption of homestead gardening as an adaptation measure.
