Smarter nutrition in Himalayas

With climate change a reality and the latest Global Hunger Index revealing a horrific scenario for the world's mountain people in developing countries in South Asia, including India, promoting genetic plant diversity in the mountains can be one important step to battle food insecurity.

Traditional plants provide sufficient nutrition and have adapted well to the mountain environment. Historically, these crops have been referred to as neglected and underutilised crop species (NUS) but in recent years they have been re-branded as future smart foods or FSFs, experts say.

FSFs are traditional crops, the genetic resources of which are vital for sustainable agriculture. They can play a fundamental role in supplementing the incomes of mountain communities as many of these species do not require high inputs and can be successfully grown even in marginal and degraded wastelands.

"FSFs provide useful genes to breed better varieties capable of withstanding climate change scenarios. A crop rotation system, including FSFs, would also disrupt some pest and disease cycles, reducing infestation and contributing to more sustainable food production.

Examples of FSFs include taro, black gram and horse crop, among many others," Lipy Adhikari of the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has said in a new research paper based on a field study in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region.

According to her, buckwheat, amaranth, naked barley, finger millet and high altitude rice are some FSFs traditionally grown in the HKH region that have been part of the agricultural system for several millennia. Millet is perhaps one of the oldest foods known to humans and possibly the first cereal to be used for domestic purposes. Some FSFs have high medical importance.

For instance, people in remote areas of the HKH have used jamun to treat diabetes. In the Gilgit-Baltistan province, which is part of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir, locals have re-engaged sea-buckthorn for its nutritional and medicinal value. FSFs are gaining more attention at national levels as well. In eastern Nepal, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) has established a Hill Crop Research Station to revive the availability of, and interest in, traditional FSFs.

It has so far run encouraging pilots on a variety of crops, including sorghum, finger millet and tartar buckwheat. Farmers work closely with the researchers to ensure quality of production. Data from 2014 reveals that 62 per cent of the world's 490 million people who are undernourished live in Asia and the Pacific. Of them, 281 million are from the South Asia sub-region.

In the 1980s, countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh successfully transformed themselves from chronic food-deficit countries to self-sufficient ones. If these ideas about FSFs are mainstreamed into contemporary agriculture and policy, these traditional crops will go a long way towards strengthening nutrition security for millions of mountain communities, she noted.

By Imran Khan