Neglected and underutilized crop

Neglected and underused crops are domesticated plant species that have been used for centuries or even millennia for their food, fibre, fodder, oil or medicinal properties, but have been reduced in importance over time owing to particular supply and use constraints. These can include, inter alia, poor shelf life, unrecognized nutritional value, poor consumer awareness and reputational problems (famine food or "poor people's food", sometimes due to the modernization of agricultural practices). Some crops have been so neglected that genetic erosion of their genepools has become so severe that they are often regarded as lost crops.^[1]

As the demand for plant and crop attributes changes (reappraisal or discovery of nutritional traits, culinary value, adaptation to climate change, etc.), neglected crops can overcome the constraints to the wider production and use. As a matter of fact, many formerly neglected crops are now globally significant crops (oilpalm, soybean, kiwi fruit). Although the options for scaling up neglected crops for large-scale agriculture appear to be increasingly exhausted, many species have the potential to contribute to food security, nutrition, dietary and culinary diversification, health and income generation. They also provide environmental services.^[2] It is impossible to define what would constitute "proper" or "correct" levels of use; however, many neglected species evidently are underused relative to their nutritional value and productivity.

Cherimoya (Annona cherimola) on sale in Cali, Colombia. In left background: domestically produced mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana)

Overview

Landscape with quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), Cachilaya, Bolivia, Province La Paz, Lake Titicaca seen in background.

Just three crops - maize, wheat and rice - account for about 50% of the world's consumption of calories and protein.^[3] About 95% of the world's food needs are provided for by just 30 species of plants.^[4] In stark contrast, at least 12,650 species names have been compiled as edible.^[5] Neglected and underutilized plants are those that could be - and, in many cases, historically have been - used for food and other uses on a larger scale.

Such crop species have also been described as "minor", "orphan", "promising" and "little-used".

Definition

It is difficult to precisely define which attributes makes a crop "underutilized", but often they display the following features:

• Linkage with the cultural heritage of their places of origin
• Local and traditional crops whose distribution, biology, cultivation and uses are poorly documented
• Adaptation to specific agroecological niches and marginal land
• Weak or no formal seed supply systems
• Traditional uses in localized areas
• Produced in traditional production systems with little or no external inputs
• Receive little attention from research, extension services, policy and decision makers, donors, technology providers and consumers^[6]
• May be highly nutritious and/or have medicinal properties or other multiple uses

Neglected crops are primarily grown by traditional farmers. These species may be widely distributed beyond their centres of origin but tend to occupy special niches in the local production and consumption systems. They are important for the subsistence of local communities, yet remain poorly documented and neglected by the mainstream research and development activities.^[7]

Underutilized crops are those marginalized by farmers and consumers due to agronomic, genetic, economic, environmental and cultural reason, which were once important and major crop in the community.^[7]

Importance

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) from Buzi district in Mozambique

They continue to play an important role in the subsistence and economy of poor people throughout the developing world, particularly in the agrobiodiversity-rich tropics. Despite their potential for dietary diversification and the provision of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, they continue to attract little research and development attention.

Alongside their commercial potential, many of the underused crops also provide important environmental services, as they are adapted to marginal soil and climate conditions.

Constraints

The following are frequent constraints:^[1]

• limited germplasm available;
• lack of technical information;
• lack of national policy;
• lack of interest by researchers, agriculturists and extension workers;
• lack of producer interest.

Examples

Village chief of Boula Téné, [Senegal] Theodore Mada Keita, holds up the fonio grain [White fonio (Digitaria exilis)] that helps feed his family in southern Senegal

Ziziphus mauritiana (dry fruits) for sale at the Luangwa turn-off on Great East road, Zambia.

Ipomoea aquatica photographed in the Sunday Market, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

Ulluco tubers (Ullucus tuberosus) for sale in southern Peru

Bixa orellana fruit open, showing the seeds from which annatto is extracted, photographed in Campinas, Brazil

Determination of the underutilized status of a crop varies among researchers. Each countries, and R & D institutions use different criteria and approaches to define this particular group of crop. It should be noted that in any cases where exotic species or diversified species are underutilized at certain region, these are not necessarily underutilized in other parts of the worlds.^[1]

Cereal and pseudocereal crops

Fruits and nuts species

Vegetable and pulse crops

Root and tuber crops

Industrial underutilized crops

Oil seeds

International events that fostered underutilized crops

Logo of the international year of Quinoa 2013

• 1987 - Establishment of the International Centre for Underutilized Crops (ICUC)
• 1996 - The FAO Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture emphasized the importance of underutilized crops
• 1999 - At an international workshop held in Chennai, India, the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recognized the contribution that neglected and underutilized species make to food security, rural incomes and combating poverty
• 2002 - Establishment of the Global Facilitation Unit of Underutilized Species (GFU) of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), and was housed within Bioversity International, Rome, Italy.
• 2008 - Establishment of Crops for the Future (CFF) which is a merging of ICUC and GFU, based in Malaysia^[8]
• 2011 - Establishment of Crops for the Future Research Centre (CFFRC) in Malaysia^[9]
• 2012 - The international Crops for the 21st Century seminar held on 10–13 December 2012 in Córdoba, Spain aimed to discuss major topics related to underlining the role of neglected and underutilised species to address food and agriculture challenges in the future.^[10]
• 2013 - Official launch of the International Year of Quinoa (IYQ-2013), intended to increase awareness, understanding and knowledge about quinoa and its importance on food security.^[11]
• 2013 - 3rd International Conference on Neglected and Underutlized Species, Accra, Ghana - to ensure that research on neglected and underutilized species (NUS) is demand-oriented and that results are better shared and applied, researchers, extension agents, the private sector and farmers must engage in more collaboration - in sub-Saharan Africa.

See also

• Food security
• Heirloom plant
• List of useful plants
• Slow Food
• Subsistence farming

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neglected and underutilised species.

• Crops for the Future
• NUS Database Asia
• NewCROP the New Crop Resource Online Program