Valuing crop diversity
Over time we have identified and learned to use nearly 8000 species for our food and well-being. Today, however, only about 30 crops form the basis of world’s agriculture. Over 50% of our energy requirements are now met by just three crops: rice, wheat and maize. The continuously narrowing base for global food security limits the options available to farmers, and reduces the agricultural biodiversity necessary to provide security in resource-poor environments.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue on minor crops, crops that many of us know, use and enjoy but which do not receive the attention or support they deserve. As you will see from the networking section of this issue, however, there are many organizations working to improve the situation.
Table of contents:
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4 - 4written by ILEIA editorial teamOver time, we have identified and learned to use nearly 8000 species for our food and well-being. However, as cultivation technologies developed, our attention has become increasingly focused on a limited number of species. Today, after millenia of agricultural development, we derive more than 50% of our food requirements from just three crops (maize, wheat and rice) and 95% of our energy needs from less that 30 plant species. Although useful and often nutritious, very little is known of many underutilised crops. Usually these crops have not been commercialized and little has been done to develop markets for them.
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5 - 6written by Stefano Padulosi , Irmgard Hoeschle-ZeledonThe use of the term underutilized to refer to categories of wild and cultivated plants invariably gives rise to a discussion of what the word actually means. In general it is commonly applied to species whose potential has not been fully realized.
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7 - 7written by Timothy JohnsUnderutilized crops make important contributions to the nutrition and health of people in developing countries. Whereas these potential benefits provide a good reason for conserving agrobiodiversity, thislink receives little attention nationalle and internationaly. However, as the growing dependence of population worldwide on a few staple crops leads to increasing health problems, more attention is being given to biodiversity and the interdependence between human and environmental health.
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8 - 10written by Nathan C. McClintockRoselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a versatile plant with a number of useful properties. These enable it to fill many different agroecological as well as socioeconomical niches in Senegal and Mali. It is intercropped with staple crops or planted along field boundaries, requires little care and its leaves, seed capsules and stems are used in a number of local dishes and in traditional medicines. Women are usually responsible for the growing of roselle and add value to the crop by developing products which they sell at the market.
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11 - 13written by Adriana Woods Páez , Pablo EyzaguirreIn the harsh and unpredictable upland plains of Peru and Bolivia, cañahua has flourished and diversified where few other crops can grow. The grain grows well between 3500 and 4100 m, and is highly resistant to frost, daright, salty soil and pests. Cañahua requires little care in the field, but harvesting and processing is laborious. Although the communities who live in this region have been growing cañahua for centuries, the area under cultivation is decreasing and the future of the crop is uncertain.
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14 - 15Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and cañahua (Chenopodium pallidicaule) are two traditional grain crops from the high Andes region, grown at altitudes of 3000 - 4500 m. The grains are very nutritious and there is an increasing demand in the urban markets for products made from them. However, cultivation has decreased over the years and genetic diversity has now reached critical levels. PROINPA in Bolivia is trying to revive the interest amongst farmers in growing these crops. Varieties are selected and developed in accordance with farmers’ criteria, and farmers are linked up directly with small processing units, which enables them to get a better price.
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16 - 17written by Jean-Francois CruzFonio (Digitaria exilis), a traditional cereal crop from West Africa, is popular because it is well adapted to local conditions and has good nutritional and culinary properties. But manual processing of fonio is a difficult and timeconsuming task because of the tiny size of its seeds. Fonio is, therefore, rarely available on the market. To make fonio available to consumers and worth growing for farmers, a CIRAD initiated project has been working together with local stakeholders to develop better equipment for mechanical processing and cleaning of the fonio.
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18 - 20Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is an ancient root crop which is closely integrated into society and culture in the Pacific. Taro has never received much interest from research, but the devastation caused by the outbreak of Taro Leaf Blight in Samoa in 1993 has led to a renewed interest in this crop, in particular in its genetic diversity. Gene banks have been established, but it is also necessary to work directly with farmers on in-situ, or on-farm conservation to keep the crop useful and competitive in a changing environment.
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21 - 21written by Marcel ChimwalaIn Malawi, the long dry period that follows the short rainy season is a time when many farmers face severe food shortages. They depend then on a variety of wild products, inclusing fruits from indigenous trees, to help them through the hunger months. These products are also an important part of the daily rural and urban diet. Not only are they common and cheap sources of food, but they are also rich in the sugars, vitamins, minerals, vegetable oils and proteins necessary for a healthy and balanced diet.
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22 - 23written by Emily OakleyHome gardens are reservoirs of agrobiodiversity in rural communities worldwide and, in many cultures it is women who maintain them. This everyday task is an important household activity and ensures that families get a nourishing diet suited to their tastes and cultural traditions. As such, home gardens are a prominent feature of rural Bangladesh and are found in almost all village households.
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24 - 25Planalto da Borborema is a region in the state of paraiba in north east Brazil. Most of the inhabitants live on small rural properties and they depend on selling farm produce. The region has three ecological sub regions, all of which experience long periods of drought which puts the food security of local people at risk. This context explains the strategic importance of the native fruits traditionally used by farmers. These are well adapted to local conditions, but today most of them are underutilised and local knowledge about their use and management is disappearing.
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26 - 27written by Edwards D'Jivetti MulaamaThe Tiriki people, a subgroup of the Luhyia people of Western Kenya, practice agriculture on relatively fertile soils. Farmers grow a variety of crops. Dioscorea bulbifera, locally known among the Tiriki as marugu, a yam variety to western Kenya, is being revived to supplement the local diet. Thi splant is wild in other parts of Kenya, but here it has been domesticated.
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28 - 29written by Nazmul HaqIn African rural communities, women in particular have a rich traditional knowledge of the value and properties of many minor local crops. They understand their traditional value and know they are well adapted to thelocal agro climate. This article presents the results of a survey carried out as part of a project to inventarise and reiuntroduce indigenous vegetable species suitable for cultivation in North Transvaal and the Eastern Cape, in South Africa.
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30 - 30written by Hielke van der MeulenThe Slow Food movement was founded in Italy in a spontaneous reaction to the opening of the first fast food restairant in 1988. The founders were more shocked by what they regarded as the violation of the historic facade of the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, than by the arrival of the most high profile symbol of the fast food industry. This ancdote gets to the heart of the Slow Food movement: endowing food with cultural dignity.
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31 - 31written by Jan SiemonsmaAt present, information about useful plants in the tropics is scattered over many publications. Even though improved library databases and internet have made it easier to find information, this remains a problem, especially in developing countries. The objective of PROSEA and PROTA is to make access easier by creating a system of information brokerage and knowledge repatriation for countries in the South.
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36 - 36The editors of LEISA Revista de Agroecologia (Latin America), LEISA India, Salam (Indonesia), AGRIDAPE (West Africa) and the LEISA Magazine (global) discussed new plans to improve the quality and impact of the Magazines.
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