Los huertos familiares se encuentran en muchas partes húmedas y subhúmedas del mundo. A veces se les llama huertos o siembras de patio. Estos huertos tienen una tradición establecida y ofrecen un gran potencial para mejorar la seguridad alimentaria de los hogares y aliviar las deficiencias de micronutrientes. La horticultura puede mejorar la seguridad alimentaria de varias maneras, la más importante a través de: 1) el acceso directo a una diversidad de alimentos ricos en nutrientes, 2) un mayor poder adquisitivo a partir de los ahorros en los gastos de alimentos y los ingresos de la venta de productos de horticultura, y 3) el suministro de alimentos de reserva durante los períodos de escasez estacionales.

Una de las formas más sencillas de garantizar el acceso a una dieta saludable (ver Educación y capacitación en nutrición) que contenga macro y micronutrientes adecuados es producir una gran variedad de alimentos en el huerto familiar. Esto es especialmente importante en las zonas rurales, donde las personas tienen oportunidades limitadas de obtener ingresos y un acceso deficiente a los mercados. Los huertos familiares también se están convirtiendo en una fuente cada vez más importante de alimentos e ingresos para los hogares pobres de las zonas urbanas y periurbanas.

Un huerto familiar bien desarrollado tiene el potencial, cuando el acceso a la tierra y al agua no es una limitación importante, para suministrar la mayor parte de los alimentos no básicos que una familia necesita todos los días del año, incluidas raíces y tubérculos, verduras y frutas, legumbres, hierbas y especias, animales y pescado. Las raíces y los tubérculos son ricos en energía, mientras que las legumbres son fuentes importantes de proteínas, grasas, hierro y vitaminas. Las verduras de hoja verde y las frutas de color amarillo o naranja proporcionan vitaminas y minerales esenciales, en particular ácido fólico y vitaminas A, E y C. Las verduras y frutas son un componente vital de una dieta saludable y deben consumirse como parte de cada comida. La carne, el pollo y el pescado son buenas fuentes de proteínas, grasas y micronutrientes, especialmente hierro y zinc. Son especialmente importantes en la dieta de los niños pequeños para asegurar un crecimiento y desarrollo intelectual normales. --FAO



  1. 20/5/2010 Food Always in the Home as modifed by Larry Yarger, ECHO, 2010 under the auspices of the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, International Most rural areas of the world subsist on growing food, with food security top-of-mind for most agrarian communities.Believe it or not, there are still...
  2. The World Vegetable Center is committed to alleviating poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through the increased production and consumption of nutritious and health-promoting vegetables. Household gardening is an age-old practice to supply a diverse range of fruit and vegetables to...
  3. Recurso clave 19/1/1995 All organic gardening methods can yield bountiful crops over multiple growing cycles using minimal resources in a suburban environment. Whether you hope to harvest your first tomatoes next summer or are planning to grow enough to feed your whole family in years to come, this book is your...
  4. 26/3/2015 There are perennial vegetables that are quite resilient and also highly nutritious. These vegetables can significantly improve diet, increase the body’s ability to capture the value of foods, and be incorporated into common foods. This presentation will discuss producing and using Chaya, Katuk,...
  5. 18/11/2015 Vegetable growing can provide nutrition and livelihood for those isolated by poverty, recovering from crisis, and/or diversifying their food and income options -- but gains are not automatic. What should be considered in designing and deploying vegetable gardening programs? What seed...
  6. Home gardens are found in many humid and sub-humid parts of the world. They are sometimes called backyard or kitchen gardens. These gardens have an established tradition and offer great potential for improving household food security and alleviating micronutrient deficiencies. Gardening can...
  7. Our missionis to provide educators with inspiring, research-based gardening resources and professional development to support engaging, empowering, and relevant learning experiences for children, youth, adults, and communities.
  8. 5/10/2017 Home garden interventions are one of few agricultural interventions with a proven effect on nutritional outcomes and potentially contribute to 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Despite a recent surge in interest, there remains a lack of knowledge about the most effective ways to...
  9. Cultivar en lechos elevados es la mejor opción para proteger los cultivos e incrementar el rendimiento de la cosecha. Esta técnica agrícola reduce la compactación del terreno e incrementa la calidad de la tierra. Protege las plantas en situaciones de exceso de lluvia. Esta animación describe cómo...
  10. El compost o abono natural se utiliza para mejorar la calidad de la tierra. Para crear abono natural utilizaremos materia vegetal estiércol y restos de comida. El abono aporta materia orgánica y nutrientes a la tierra. Esta animación explica el proceso de fabricación y almacenaje del abono.
  11. El riego por goteo es una técnica que permite regar de forma consistente toda la cosecha. Esta técnica es especialmente útil durante la sequía o en la estación seca. Esta técnica se debe utilizar combinada con la de Lechos de cultivo elevados. Es importante ver primera esta otra animación antes...
  12. 1/1/1993 This book provides a solid source of information for your unique gardening needs, not a tranlation of cold-climate techniques. If you live in a warm climate, this book will help you pick up the right planting rhythms, choose the best plants, and discover useful techniques to make your gardening...
  13. Half the world still lives on less than $2 per day. On this budget, it can be impossible to sustain life. Malnutrition in the developing world causes dire consequences for nearly a billion people, 60% of them women and girls. Yet, there is hope for change as the majority of those who are hungry...
  14. Recurso clave 1/4/1985 Root crops is a general term commonly used for a wide variety of food plants that have an underground storage organ known as a root, tuber (rhizome), corm, or bulb. Root crops are rich in starch, and low in protein and oil. They are excellent sources of calories. Some are consumed as major...
  15. Session:WorldVeg has implemented a project funded by USAID on scaling home gardens with traditional African vegetables to improve nutrition of young women and small children, and enhance incomes. The session will focus on the diversity of species being produced, the choices of adoption of good...
  16. Recurso clave 12/12/2008 Crop production science in horticulture series: 17 Most of the world's poorest smallholders depend on tropical roots and tubers crops as their principal source of food and nutrition. These species produce large quantities of dietary energy and have stable yields under difficult environmental...
  17. What is No Till Gardening exactly? Methods that reduce or eliminate the breaking up and turning over of the soil – MINIMIZE SOIL DISRUPTION Planting in an “unprepared” seed bed (Ex. No Till Drill) Using available organic materials to smother/cover ground
  18. Access Agriculture Training Video As our land remains under water during the rainy season, our ancestors were already thinking of ways to produce crops in order to survive. They invented the floating garden by using crop residues. We do not need any chemical fertilizers or pesticides, because the...
  19. 1/1/1985 The articles in this issue discuss a household-level food production strategy which is as old as human civilization and plant domestication itself: the household garden. Show to have been of crucial importance to a large proportion of the population in recent world history, the home garden still...
  20. Anything you would need to know about organic gardening is in this book.
  21. 14/2/2011 Put the fruits of your labors front and center! With plentiful sun, open space, and an audience appreciative passersby, the front yard has all the ingredients for a beautiful and bountiful garden. Let famed blogger and garden designer Ivette Soler show you how to make over all or part of that...
  22. 15/3/2011 When Spring Warren told her husband and two teenage boys that she wanted to grow 75 percent of all the food they consumed for one year—and that she wanted to do it in their yard—they told her she was crazy. She did it anyway.
  23. 31/10/2019 This is a handbook for growing a Climate Victory Garden when the enemy is global warming. Acadia Tucker, a carbon farmer and gardener, invites us to think of gardening as civic action. By building carbon-rich soil, even in a backyard-sized patch, we can capture greenhouse gases and mitigate...
  24. 12/3/2019 Acadia Tucker’s long love affair with perennial foods has produced this easy-to-understand guide to growing and harvesting them. A regenerative farmer who is deeply concerned about global warming, Tucker believes there may be no better time to plant these hardy crops. Sturdy and deep rooted,...
  25. Foliage Plants for Modern Living contains over 125 full color illustrations of useful and pupular foliage house plants, accompanied by care instruction and suggestions as to their decorative uses. There is an index of common names, as well as a fullsection on the general care of indoor plants...
  26. 1/1/1986 Are you intimidated by pruning? Or tired of paying a professional to tackle the task? You can prune most trees and shrubs on your own, andPruning Simplifiedshows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune,...
  27. 1/1/1974 This book discusses the different plants that can be grown indoors, as well as providing information on apartment gardening, pots for plants, plant pest, and much more.
  28. 1/1/1987 Gardening in colder regions means dealing with early and late frosts, arctic winds, and inhospitable terrain. Sharing knowledge gained from years of gardening in northern Vermont, Lewis Hill provides proven methods for growing abundant vegetables and maintaining a beautiful landscape as you work...
  29. 1/1/2004 Gardens have been kept by rural and urban people for millennia thus providing them with food, income and concrete opportunities to improve their livelihoods. Policy-makers, donors and other development specialists need to realize the great potential and opportunities that gardens can provide to...
  30. 1/1/1995 The Crandalls how how anything that growns in a conventional garden can be grown in a container. This includes such unlikely candidates as asparagus, pumpkins,corn--even fruits such as apples, apricots, peaches, pears and figs. Container gardening also makes it possible for people in cold...
  31. 1/1/1978 You'll find everything you will need to know about each plant's growing habits, climatic needs, cultural requirements, soil and moisture preferences; extra carethat can produce a superior crop; harvestting and storing each vegetable, its value as a food and how to prepare and serve it. Sources of...
  32. 1/1/1978 Presents information on the characteristics, planting, cultivation, harvesting, and culinary uses of traditional Chinese greens cucurbits, snow peas, beans, cabbages, and herbs.
  33. 1/1/1978 This book is a manual of procedures, giving you the step-by-step how and when of various planting techniques. Look too, in every chapter, for the principles--the "why"--on which these techniques are based.
  34. El compost o abono natural se utiliza para mejorar la calidad de la tierra. Para crear abono natural utilizaremos materia vegetal, estiércol y restos de comida. El abono aporta materia orgánica y nutrientes a la tierra. Esta animación explica el proceso de fabricación y almacenaje del abono.
  35. Access Agriculture Training Video Staking allows more light and better air circulation to plants. Staked tomato plants are less attacked by pests and diseases and the fruits do not easily spoil. By staking your plants, they do not fall over due to the weight of the tomato fruits. Your plants will...
  36. 1/1/1990 Intensivamente los jardines de la verdura cultivados pueden proporcionar mucho la comida de una familia de la tierra muy pequeńa. Sin embargo, mantener su productividad, estos jardines, requiera mucho fertilizante y algunas técnicas especiales debajo de que se discuten. Cuando una cosecha está...