The study was conducted with an objective of investigating the plant species diversity in homegardens and their contribution towards livelihoods of War Khasi community of Meghalaya. In total, 197 plant species were recorded with an average of 89 plant species per homegarden. The average size of homegarden was 750 m2 with the annual gross production of Rs.3514 per homegarden; this contributes about 7 % towards average annual gross income per household. Computing in terms of per unit area, the average annual gross income was found to be Rs.73,748/ha. The study revealed that 35% of the produce was used for self consumption and 65% was sold in the local markets. The important plant species which contributed to the household income were: Piper betle (24%), Mangifera indica (19%), Litchi chinensis (15%) and Areca catechu (11%). We conclude that although homegardens contribute only a small part of total income, they are particularly important because of low labour input for management and locational advantage.
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Tynsong et al. (2010) studied this question.