Policy Support for Home Gardens in Vietnam Can Link to Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Despite research evidence on the diverse benefits of home gardens and their potential contributions to multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs), the role of policy towards supporting these contributions remains unclear in developing countries like Vietnam. In this study, we found that 25 out of Vietnam’s 86 key rural development and agricultural policies enacted over the last decade (2010–2021) set specific targets for home gardens. The targets, however, focus strongly on income generation with indicators stipulating e.g., 50–80% of total income from home gardens should be generated by the main product. The policies set no specific target for other potential roles of home gardens beyond the economy of rural households and can exacerbate the widespread transformation of home gardens in Vietnam into farming practices with low crop diversity. The latter potentially limits contributions of home gardens to two (SDG 1, 10) of at least 11 (SDG 1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10–13, 15) of Vietnam’s 17 SDGs. To narrow the gap between research and policy in home garden contributions to Vietnam’s SDGs, we need to better mainstream integrated home garden systems and their diverse benefits, enrich policy targets beyond the income generation, and strengthen coordination among state departments for policy implementation.