Minor millets in South Asia: learnings from IFAD-NUS project in India ...

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introduction 13 Introduction Background Global food security has been increasingly narrowing down to a handful of crops. Over 50% of the global requirement for proteins and calories are met by just three grains, maize, wheat and rice. Only 150 crops are commercialized on a significant global scale, while humankind over time, had used more than 7,000 edible species. The narrowing base of global food security is limiting livelihood options for the rural poor, particularly in marginal areas. Addressing their needs requires that we broaden the focus of research and development to include a much wider range of crop species, as one of the options. Many of these species occupy important niches, adapted to the high risk and fragile conditions where significant sections of the rural communities practice marginal farming. These crops have a comparative advantage in marginal lands where they have been selected to withstand stress conditions and contribute to sustainable production with low inputs at low cost of production. They also contribute to the diversity-richness as well as to the stability of agro-ecosystems. There are hardly any alternatives to these species for their strategic role in fragile ecosystems, such as found in arid and semi-arid lands, in mountains, steppes and tropical forests. Ethnobotanic surveys indicate that hundreds of such species are still to be found in each country, representing an enormous wealth of agrobiodiversity with potential to contribute to improved incomes, food security and nutrition, combating hidden hunger caused by micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiencies. However, these locally important species are frequently neglected by development workers, science and policies. Lack of attention has meant that their potential value is underexploited. This neglect places them in danger of continuing genetic erosion and, ultimately, disappearance, further restricting food security and livelihood options for the rural poor. Sustainably improving rural livelihoods is a complex endeavour. Coping with greater competition for natural resources, urbanization and climate change will require a broader portfolio of crops to meet new environmental conditions and new markets. Some key resources to meet these challenges are already in the hands of the rural poor in the form of the wide range of neglected crop species that they use on a regular basis to meet household needs. Research to increase the value of these crops and make them more widely available would broaden the resource base and increase the livelihood options for rural communities. Rationale Neglected and underutilized species are considered ‘minor’ in terms of global trade and the research attention that they have received. They are often, however, far from minor in the lives of the rural poor. As well as playing significant, if not crucial roles in household food security and income generation, many are important in local food cultures. Such is the case for, to mention a few, taro, small millets and
14 Minor Millets in south AsiA buckwheat in Asia, fonio and bambara groundnut in Sub-Saharan Africa, or quinoa, oca and ulluco in the Andes. These genetic resources and associated cultural values are important assets of the rural poor that need to be safeguarded and promoted. They are also strategic for broadening the portfolio of crops and foods that can improve the livelihoods and food security of poor communities around the world, particularly in an era of climate change. Because agricultural research has paid little attention to these species, there are major gaps in our knowledge and capacity to conserve and improve them. There is also a lack of knowledge about their agronomy and the improvement of their yield potential and quality. A little has been done to identify the most effective commercialization, processing, value addition, marketing and policy frameworks to promote their use and maximize their economic value. All of these factors represent, at various levels, the bottlenecks that need to be addressed for successful promotion of millets. The international community has made clear calls for greater support for development of neglected and underutilized species in agriculture. This is an agreed priority of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 1996), and its importance has been recognized by Agenda 21 and the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR). This was reaffirmed at the IFAD-supported Consultative Workshop on Enlarging the Basis of Food Security, organized by the CGIAR and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation at Chennai, India, in February 1999. Whilst acknowledging the ongoing work of several CGIAR Centres, the Chennai meeting recognized that, despite the evident demand, research and development activities on neglected species have been sporadic and lacking in a coherent framework and strategy. Thus, the meeting called for greater attention to the area and recommended establishment of a platform to address work at the international level. Within the mandate of Bioversity International (formerly, IPGRI), a special attention is dedicated to the promotion of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) and the project whose activities are herewith reported is part of Bioversity’ s global efforts to enhance the potential contribution of these species in improving people’s livelihoods around the world. This international effort (the first of the UN dedicated solely to NUS) was successfully carried out from 2002-2004 1 . Composed of three regional components (South Asia, West Asia/North Africa, and Latin America), its framework was developed through several multi-stakeholders participatory workshops held in the course of 2001. The species selected during these consultations were the nutritious millets (focus of the project in India and Nepal), the Andean grains (focus in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru) and medicinal and aromatic species (focus in Egypt and Yemen). The selection reflects the contribution of the species to sustainable agricultural systems, their potential for increased use, levels of threats of genetic erosion, and their local or regional importance for food security, nutrition and income generation in target areas. 1 A second phase approved by IFAD in 2007 (IFAD-NUS II) will be ending in December 2010.
Page 2 and 3: Minor Millets in South Asia Learnin
Page 4 and 5: contents iii Contents Foreword v Pr
Page 6 and 7: foreword v Foreword The project,
Page 8 and 9: foreword vii Foreword I extend my c
Page 10 and 11: prefAce ix Preface The small millet
Page 12 and 13: executive suMMAry 1 Executive Summa
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Page 20 and 21: executive suMMAry 9 available for s
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Page 26 and 27: introduction 15 The project was dev
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enhanCing Food seCuritY and inCome
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staFF inVolVed in implementing iFad
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Chennai platForm For aCtion 179 Ann
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Chennai platForm For aCtion 181 i.
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aCronYms 183 Acronyms ABD : Agricul
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aCronYms 185 PDS : Public Distribut
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Minor millets in South Asia: learnings from IFAD-NUS project in India ...

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