Home Gardening or Back yard gardening is being hailed as critical in the development of the agriculture sector by Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Transformation, Honourable Israel Bruce.

Minister Israel Bruce

Making remarks at the Prize Giving and Closing ceremony of this year’s completion, which was held on Tuesday 16th December, 2025, at the Girl Guide Headquarters, Minister Bruce thanked the participants for being a part of the national event, which he described as “most important”.

The minister told those in attendance that has concluded that the competition spurred a community spirit among the participants, which, he claims excites him as “we were able to grow community over competition”.

While noting that Agriculture forms part of the four pillars of economic growth of his government, Minister Bruce also mentioned that the growth in backyard gardening falls under agriculture.

Backyard gardening, he explained, is all about farming, using limited space that is available to a person in the proximity of their home for personal use.

“Backyard gardening is critical in the extent that, it is a means of supplementary income and it happens either directly or indirectly,” he said.

1st Prize Winner

He further added that getting involved in back yard gardening means that families save on purchases that they would have otherwise made either at the market or supermarket.
Backyard gardening, he said, is appreciated as a means of strengthening a family’s financial position and easing their economic burden.

“It cannot be over emphasised that as a back yard gardener, you give yourself sufficient authority over your consumption. You know what you’ve put into your garden,” he stated.
This, he says represents an important health consideration, and also a strong motivation for locals to get involved in back yard gardening as the “health of a nation is the wealth of a nation.”

The Minister noted that his ministry plans to listen to the farmers and stakeholders within the industry.

“As backyard farmers, I want you to know that you have in your humble servant a minister who is going to listen to you, who is going to work with my technical people in the ministry and make sure that we respond to the request and concerns and issues that are affecting farmers across this country, including the backyard farmers.”

He told the participants that as back yard farmers they are making a significant dent in the extent to which this country has to spend hard earn foreign reserve to import a lot of what they (backyard farmers) are producing.

He also said that earlier this week, he met with the senior managers of the ministry and one of the issues discussed was the need to consistently and purposefully reduce this country’s importation bill and seek to increase our export of produce.

This year’s competition began in March with 37 participants completing the journey.

SOURCE:  Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Transformation