WOMEN-LED INTEGRATED HOMESTEAD AGRO-FARMING: A DESIGNERLY PERSPECTIVE

A growing population with rising per capita income has intensified the competition for limited land in Bangladesh. As regulation of land use is largely absent in rural areas, agricultural land use is getting indiscriminately converted into non-agricultural uses. This conversion is threatening agro-based food security of the country in general and of the rural households in particular. Regarding this issue, the current government has emphasized the rural homestead as a ‘production unit’ of agro-farming. As an important source of food and nutrition, homestead farming is an integral part of rural settlements where women play a vital role. However, in most of the cases, it is done in an un-integrated and rudimentary manner. As a result, they are unable to yield the maximum from homestead farming. In this context, the research focuses on designing integrated homestead agro-farming based on case studies of two homesteads of a typical village in Batiaghata, Khulna. With an exploratory approach the research methodology is designed with a three-stage framework. Stage I includes investigation of the categories and needs of agro-products focusing on the role of women in production, processing, management and consumption; Stage II includes exploration of existing spatial-morphological patterns and extent of different types of agro-farming; while Stage III includes development of design schemes for integrated homestead agro-farming. Based on the triangulation of findings, this research contributes strategic physical-spatial design considerations for integrated homestead agro-farming towards ensuring household food security in a socially sustainable and agro-ecologically resilient manner.