III.III.IV. Home gardens

Local people on Socotra like, and often depend on, home-gardens which are becoming an important part of their settled life. Support of home-garden establishment by material (fence, irrigation system) enable also native tree planting beside the establishment of vegetable or fruit trees. The native tree provides shadow for vegetables and profits from watering, growing in a sheltered environment and protected from goat browsing. Home-gardens will allow the local population to utilize a variety of plants being grown there. The local people prefer tree species with ethnobotanical use (a category to which Boswellia species belong), therefore linking to a cultural and economic value (resin).

Support of home gardens is also way of motivation for local people to take care of reforestation areas and tree regeneration. During the project we support 100 home gardens and provided people with not only materials but with tree seedlings for free.