Green gardens for greener lives: Heterogeneous impacts of climate-smart home gardening on food security and quality of life in Ghana

Despite the growing discourse on sustainable development, the potential of climate-smart agriculture to transform agri-food systems, alleviate poverty, and reduce hunger framed in the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 in Africa remains underexplored. Specifically, the influence of home gardening as a climate-smart agriculture practice on household food security and quality of life has not been adequately investigated. This paper aims to bridge this knowledge gap by examining the factors influencing the adoption of climate-smart home gardening and its heterogenous impacts on food security and quality of life across households with different levels of unobserved resistance to adoption. Using the marginal treatment effect (MTE) model and data collected from 384 households in Ghana, the results showed that adopting climate-smart home gardening (CSHG) enhances household dietary diversity by 37.5%, increases life happiness by 21.9%, and improves life satisfaction by 18.9%. Furthermore, CSHG reduces food insecurity access by 29.3%. Insights from policy-relevant treatment effects (PRTE) within the MTE framework revealed that extension contacts and active participation in social groups significantly foster the adoption of climate-smart home gardening, subsequently boosting food security and quality of life. It is crucial for government and non-governmental organizations, along with practitioners, to prioritize the promotion of climate-smart home gardening. This approach not only offers a pathway to sustainable agricultural practices but also addresses the challenges posed by climate change while enhancing food security and improving livelihoods.