The home garden agro-ecosystem is one of the major production systems that developed during Ethiopia's early agricultural life. The term 'home garden' generally refers to the cultivation area around rural homes, created and shaped over generations, where all members of a family routinely engage in daily activities. It involves distinct bio-cultural assets of a specific rural society to which each family is economically and emotionally attached. In and around home gardens, various farm products are reaped and processed both for domestic and market purposes. Ethiopian home gardens have two-fold functions: some products are mainly for home consumption, while others generate income generation. Consequently, they represent an important foundation for rural livelihoods, economic earnings, floristic richness and the application of local knowledge to the farming, processing and use of plants, animals and products.

Home gardens manifest themselves in different forms and contents and take on varied spatiotemporal structures within the different agro-ecosystems of Ethiopia. The rich floristic composition of the home garden has implied maintaining diversity in species, crop types/varieties and other taxonomic and genetic forms. A wide array of products used for food (cereals, vegetables, oilseeds, tubers, legumes, fruits, etc.) associated with various spices and condiments that play vital roles in traditional food-making; and many others including stimulants, perfumes, medicines and fragrant/aromatic plants have key functions and in people's lives. In many parts of Ethiopia, the villagers' assets are constructed around their home garden resources. The garden functions as a linking spot for the biological and social factors operating around their home, their crop fields and natural ecosystems. Many species (e.g. coffee, korerima, tosign, timiz) occur both in home gardens and natural ecosystems; some home garden species (e.g. kosseret, enset, yams) have their wild relatives and kin in wild habitats while many grow in crop fields as well; the home garden is usually preferred for special varieties of some field crops. Home gardens are central to Ethiopia's vision of rural development, which is aimed at the well-being of livelihood systems, environments, biodiversity and cultures.

While the value of home gardens is well established with their reputed local products that typify specific provenance and local know-how, the current process threatens to upset the equilibrium that has sustained the traditional management since immemorial times. The relative weight of cash crops is increasing in home gardens, forcefully led by chat and some exotic tree crops; hence, many of the traditional species that are highly valued for their versatile household services are being displaced. There is, therefore, an urgent need to protect, enhance and develop home gardens as well as to promote their products, while remaining vigilant about the right mix of crops and protecting biodiversity together with local bio-cultural knowledge.

For further information, refer to the following sources and references:
1. Zemede Asfaw (2001). Origin and evolution of rural homegardens in Ethiopia. In: Pp. 273-286, I. Friis and O. Ryding (eds.), Biodiversity Research in the Horn of Africa region. Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Biologiske Skifter, Danke Videnskabers Selsk 54:273-286.
2. Zemede Asfaw and Zerihun Woldu (1997). Plant Associations in homegardens in Welayta and Gurage, Southern Ethiopia: Sinet: Ethiopian Journal of Science 20(1): 73-90.
3. Zemede Asfaw and Ayele Nigatu (1995). Home-Gardens in Ethiopia: Characteristics and Plant Diversity. Sinet: Ethiopian Journal of Science 18(2):235-266.
4. Tesfaye Abebe (2005). Diversity in Homegarden Agroforestry Systems in Southern Ethiopia. PhD. Dissertation, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.