Gardening in Small Spaces in Cox's Bazar

Between 2022 and 2025, Re-Alliance, in collaboration with the Food Security Sector in Cox's Bazar and Rohingya student researchers at the Asian University for Women, conducted a research project to evaluate the impacts of home gardening in small refugee dwellings. By interviewing 159 households and 14 organisations, this project explored the intersection of food security, health, and psychological well-being within a displacement context.

The Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, face severe food shortages. In 2023, standard food assistance was reduced to just $8 per person per month, leaving families with a significant nutritional deficit. Despite the constraints of limited space and harsh conditions, the community’s food security response began to fill some of the gap, as over 1,000 gardening initiatives were recorded in 2022 alone.

Our research found that 93% of gardens remained productive for 7 to 11 months after establishment, with Permaculture and Regenerative farms the most successful. Households reported multiple benefits, including improved food security and reduced dependence on external aid, with some harvesting up to 195 kg of fresh produce in the growing season. Beyond nutrition, respondents noted a genuine improvement in mental health. Some households even sold their surplus, earning up to 25,000 Bangladeshi Taka.

Re-Alliance recommends a shift toward a regenerative approach inspired by Permaculture. This includes prioritising native and non-GMO seed saving, community composting, perennial plant growing (eg food forestry), and climate-adaptive techniques. We advocate for integrating the traditional agricultural knowledge of the refugees themselves, who bring deep farming expertise to the camps, and supporting the transition of this to cultivating kitchen gardens and working in small spaces without synthetic inputs. For some this is a leap, but for others, particularly women who may have been involved previously in vegetable gardening rather than open field farming, have a lot of valuable knowledge to share. Involving women farmers in supporting others to grow can be a more effective use of resources than employing external workers.

It's important to note that people cannot be self sufficient through small kitchen gardens in refugee settlements. These spaces are a very valuable supplement to limited food availability, and if cultivated well, can provide surplus to sell and cash to buy other food stuffs. But with limited space, they cannot provide all of people's nutritional needs.

Home gardens in Cox’s Bazar have proven to be more than just a means of food production. They empower individuals, provide nutritional and economic benefits, and restore a sense of dignity.

Transcript from video below:

"This is my tiny permaculture garden. I do not have extra space for gardening. I got Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) from BASD and started gardening. My neighbours also followed me, observing my garden. I didn't know much about gardening earlier, but now I know its importance, what good food is, and what poisonous food is. I planted some plants of bottle gourd, sweet pumpkin, brinjal, chilli, and tomato in a very small area. My family members and I enjoy food from our garden. I do sell a surplus of vegetables. I give thanks to BASD for giving us such beautiful training."

- Siraj of Camp 19 at Cox's Bazar shares his garden and experience of working with BASD