Transition of Home Garden Cultivation in a Rainfed Rice-Growing Village in Northeast Thailand from the 1980s to the 2010s

抄録

The present study aimed to elucidate changes in the type, utility, and production of crops and other useful plants (that support the livelihood of farmers), grown in the home gardens of a typical rainfed rice-growing village in Northeast Thailand during 1983, 2000–2001, and 2014–2015. The frequency (%) and coverage (%) of the plants were recorded in each home garden, and information about these gardens was collected through interviews with farmers involved. A total of 157, 137, and 102 plant species was recorded during the study periods, during which some plants were abandoned, and new ones were introduced as new income sources. Based on frequency and/or coverage data, the dominant crop in 1983 was chili (Capsicum spp.), which was an important income source for most households at that time. Subsequently, farmers added sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) to their gardens in the 2000s and Chinese celery (Apium graveolens var. dulce) in the 2010s. During 2014–2015, no crop showed as high a frequency as chili in 1983, and the average coverage of Chinese celery was the highest among the crops, when it was planted in fewer gardens than chili and sweet basil. Chinese celery was grown using more inputs, such as termite-mound soil, thus earning more income than the other crops. When a specific crop was grown in a large area of the garden, the number of useful plant species was significantly smaller than that in the garden without such a crop after 2000. These changes may be associated with socio-economic ones in the village, as the number of households engaged in home-garden cropping as well as the importance of the home garden as a daily source of food and income have decreased during the last three decades.