indigenous and underutilized crops

1. Significance of Breeding Neglected and
Underutilized Crop Species(NUCS) for
Food and Nutritional Security
Desta Fekadu
Jimma University
October, 2016

2. Outline
• Introduction
• Importance
• Promotion
• Role of plant breeding
• Summary
• Conclusion and recommendations

3. 1. Introduction
Definitions
 wild and cultivated plants - species whose potential has not
been fully realized and also refers to local varieties of major
crops and commodities currently abandoned by farmers or in
decline but which could be revived through specific
interventions such as adding value or marketing( Padulosi and
Hoeschle-Zeledon, 2004).
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4.  promoting the better use of plant biodiversity to deal with
problems of poverty, food and nutritional security, income
generation and environmental health:
 those non-commodity crops, which are part of a larger
biodiversity portfolio, once more popular and today
neglected by users for a variety of agronomic, genetic, and
economic factors (Padulosi et al., 2002).
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5.  In human history 40-100,000 plant species used
7,000 species -cultivated / collected for consumption
Presently only 30 crops provide ;
• 95% of human food energy
• 5 cereal crops (rice, wheat, maize, millet and sorghum)-
providing 60% of the energy intake (UNEP, 2013) and
focus of attention of markets and scientific research
(Padulosi and Frison, 1999).
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6. 2. Importance
 Population pressure rise
 intensification of farming -long term food and nutritional security (
Mayes et al., 2011)
 global food production need to rise 60%( UNEP, 2013)
 6% of the world’s total land and 20% of irrigated areas
affected by salinity (UNESCO Water Portal, 2007)
 green revolution reached its ceiling- promoting cultivation of a very
limited number of crop species, relegated NUC ( Chivenge et al., 2015).
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7.  NUCS - roles in the improvement of food and nutritional
security (Mayes et al., 2011)
part of a focused effort - help the poor for subsistence and
income
to reduce the risk of over-reliance on very limited major
crops
to increase sustainability of agriculture- reduction inputs,
given the risks of the carbon footprint of agriculture on
climate change
a contribution to food quality and to preserve and celebrate
cultural and dietary diversity.

8. • The complex interactions associated with climate change and
population pressure require innovative strategies to address
food insecurity and undernourishment –NUCS
 Current research efforts identified NUCS as having potential
to reduce food and nutrition insecurity, particularly for
resource poor households in sub Saharan Africa
 their adaptability to low input agricultural systems and nutritional
composition.
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9.  What required to promote- scientific research( agronomy,
breeding, post-harvest handling and value addition, and linking
farmers to markets
valuable genes that provide increased biotic and abiotic
stress resistance, yield and quality ( McCouch, 2013;
Frison et al., 2011; Jackson et al., 2007).
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10. Food security is complex( UNEP, 2013)
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11. • In light of all these, it is imperative to give attention to NUCS
breeding to attain food and nutrition security(Turhan and
Seniz, 2012; Padulosi et al., 2013).
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12. 3. What underutilized species can
offer
• Greater food security: adapted to specific marginal
agricultural conditions, diversification is risk reduction
• Healthy nutrition: nutritional qualities- high quality proteins
(essential amino acids), a high level of minerals, vitamins, or
other valuable nutrients- a significant complement to the
'major' cereals and serve to combat the hidden hunger which
is prevalent in developing countries(Christinck,2005) .
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13.  Income generation: Underutilized species are capable of
supplying both foodstuffs and industrial raw materials, offer
new opportunities for income generation ( Thies, 2000).
 Poverty reduction: few or no external inputs for production,
an incalculable advantage for poor
 produce lower but stable yields even on marginal land (
Gundel et al., 2004).
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14. • Sustainable use of natural resources: offer potential for the
sustainable use of more challenging sites- fit easily into
traditional sustainable farming systems geared towards
restoring soil fertility, like mixed cropping and
agroforestry(GTZ, 2002).
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15.  Indigenous knowledge and cultural identity:
very specific knowledge of cultivation and processing
techniques and their diverse uses
spiritual importance for the people and their cultural
identity(Williams and Haq, 2002).
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16. 4. Why promoting NUCS required
 NUCS should be promoted to be produced, conserved and
researched (Durst and Bayasgalanbat, 2014;Williams and Haq,
2002 )
food and nutrition security
enhanced climate resilience and adaptation
improved livelihoods
conservation of biodiversity and export potential
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17. 5. Role of NUCS in the Wake of Climate
Change
 Using diverse crops and wild plant species - enhances their
adaptability and resilience capacity to changing environmental
and economic conditions ( Thapit et al., 2009)
 The an increasingly dependence on a limited number of
varieties of a few major crops in the wake of climate change,
makes farmers more vulnerable to their food and nutritional
security(Pigliucci, 1996).
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18.  Wider capacity of NUCS mitigating climate change through an
integrated system of diversified food production and land use
could be promoted through:
 strengthening farmer seed systems
climate resilient integrated home garden production
systems, and
giving attention for scientific research and
development(Thapit et al., 2009).
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19. 6. Exploitation of NPBTs for breeding of NUCS
 NUCS a useful genetic resources - stress resistance traits in
plant breeding(Ochatt et al., 2014).
 regeneration strategies for the production of fertile plants using
biotech.;
 protoplast fusion - somatic hybridization with wild and cultivated
relatives- reduce duration of generation cycles
 increasing need of plant proteins- in low income food deficit countries-
protein rich sources from NUCS as a variety and as a gene pool (
Schaart et al., 2015).
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20.  Crop improvement -to meet the demands of a growing
population- food production and environmental impact of food
production needs to be reduced(Schaart et al., 2015)
• To respond adequately, we should optimally apply all existing
tools to breed improved crops and maximize any potential
future applications for increasingly sustainable food
production through the inclusion of NUCS in the breeding
programs( Padulosi and Frison, 2014).
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21. • Compared with traditional breeding, new plant breeding
techniques increase the precision of making changes in the
genomes and thereby reduce the time and effort that is needed
to produce varieties from NUCS that meet new
requirements(Lusser, 2012; Schaart et al., 2015).
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22. • Cisgenesis:genetic modification using only genes from the
species itself
• intragenesis: genes introduced are novel combinations of
functional elements originating from different genes
• reverse breeding: for the generation of homozygous parental
lines from any heterozygous line as a form of hybrid seed
production
• RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM): induces
transcriptional gene silencing via methylation of the target
gene promoter
• Sequence-specific nuclease (SSN) technology: any gene of
interest can be stably knocked out, mutated, or replaced and
SSNs bind to a predefined target DNA sequence
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23.  Thus using these NPB technologies could boost the
productivity, adaptability and palatability of NUCS to attain
food and nutritional security(Palmgren, 2015; Padulosi and
Frison, 2014).
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24.  The main focus of research should be;
yields and disease resistance
adaptable to nutrient and water stresses, and
raising the micronutrient content
 In order to achieve all these objectives public and private
agricultural research must step up their breeding activities in
developing countries(Schoning, 2013; ILEIA, 2004;Gundel et
al., 2004).
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25. 7. Summary
 Developing clear strategy
 focused research to evaluate the potential and ecological
requirements, advancing knowledge and enhancing
research(Williams and Haq, 2002)
 Methodology include assessment of local know-how, socio-
economic background, policy framework, development of a
scientific and analytical framework to establish the agro-
ecological potential(Lovett and Haq, 2000).
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26.  The need for information
 Slow progress in developing NUCS (Haq, 1995) ;
• lack of available information- production, consumption and
utilization
• Available materials for testing- genetic, agronomy
• coordination of stakeholders and project formulation
• prioritization for genetic resources and sustainable utilization
.
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27. • marketing and postharvest handling
• training
• promotion of specific underutilized crops, and
• government policies, initiatives and incentives to producers
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28.  Enhancing research priority setting and cooperation
 Research planning and priority setting by policies- in
association with supportive institutions NARS
 Reaching decisions on priorities -participatory:
• assessment of knowledge on resource use systems by farming
communities,
• recognition of social and economic needs,
• matching existing resources to production, and
• Recognizing eco-regional complementarities with neighboring
countries.
 The priority setting requires NARS and agencies of
environment, and others(Padulosi et al., 2013).
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29.  to enhance regional and sub regional cooperation for research
and development, international organizations needed to
facilitate national policy development (Schaart, 2015)
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30.  Discussions on NUCS among the scientific community led to
different focuses (Govindaraj et al., 2015):
need to prioritize and integrate research
low input sustainable development, or
specific focus on enhanced production and
commercialization
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31.  Mobilizing support for highly focused activities(Govindaraj et
al., 2015; Chivenge et al., 2015);
 International organizations - mobilize project funding for
enhanced production, research and development of neglected
and underutilized crops;
 bilateral donors should consider twinning arrangements for R
& D,
 build capacity, and
 a consortium approach for the support of the networks
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32.  Identifying the underutilized crops with potential: a trait-
based approach
 look for crops with trait values that currently exceed the
equivalent trait in major crops, especially where stresses
restrict productivity(Mayes et al., 2015)
 it becomes more important under the twin challenges of
cultivating crops in uncertain future climates and the need to
increase food production with fewer inputs.
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33. 8. Conclusion and recommendations
 great potential - a more diversified and sustainable food
production system
 investment in long term- research and breeding programs and
improved seed supply sources to ensure their competitiveness
in the marketplace
 Funding opportunities
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34.  Key step-ups
validation and screening of indigenous foods- linking
science with traditional knowledge
propagation techniques for domestication
set up databases for the species (using images, scientific
names and their availability in different agroecological
zones)
knowledge of nutritional contents and research on allergic
agents
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