1 - 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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1 - 1
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2 - 3
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4 - 4Editorial
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5 - 6written by Stefano Padulosi , Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon
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7 - 7written by Timothy Johns
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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 socio-economical 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 - 12
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13 - 14written by Adriana Woods Páez , Pablo Eyzaguirre
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15 - 15
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16 - 17written by Jean-Francois Cruz
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18 - 18
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19 - 21Fonio (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 proprties. But manual processing of fonio is a difficult and time-consuming 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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22 - 22written by Vanaja Ramprasad , Dr. Nada GowdaTaro (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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23 - 23
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24 - 25written by Emily Oakley
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26 - 27written by Nazmul Haq
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28 - 28written by L. Narayana Reddy
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29 - 29
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30 - 30
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31 - 32
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33 - 33
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34 - 36written by S.Bala RaviIn India, minor millets are still the staple to large section of people in the semi-arid region because of their extreme hardiness and nutritive value. However, the cultivation has decreased over years, also reducing its genetic diversity. Minor millets have also not found good market, as the processing is manual and time consuming. To revive these crops, MSSRF is working with people for species conservation and promotion of simple processing technologies.
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