Dr. ASHU SHARMA

India being blessed with varied climatic conditions provides habitat to a number of green foods, some of which are still underutilized and their knowledge is confined to some tribal and ethnic communities living in close conformity to the nature. The search for lesser known crops, many of which are potentially valuable as human foods is a long lasting continuous process and with tireless efforts man has successfully exposed nature to a greater extent for meeting the requirements of sustenance on the mother earth. Scientific advances in enhancing the productivity of crops like maize, wheat, rice and other dominant food crops of today resulted in replacement of numerous other crops. Moreover, irrigated and intensive farming systems have resulted in shrinking of diversity in number of cultivated crops and available varieties as diverse genotypes.

Today, our food security is depended on less than ten crops. The impact of narrowing down of species base at food security level is likely to be felt most by the rural and hill people as they have restricted livelihood opportunities. The underutilized crops of today were the major crops in the past. Both historical records of cropping pattern and the evidence of dietary habits of people of tribal and hilly areas of the country indicates that under-utilized crops have a distinct position and a well-defined role in providing food and nutritional security at house hold level.

Underutilized or minor crops are traditionally grown in the centers of their origin or the centers of diversity by farmers and have lesser importance in terms of global production and consumption systems. They are locally well adapted to marginal lands and constitute an important part of the local diet. These crops possess promising nutritional and industrial importance for a variety of purposes for human kind. Their cultivation is restricted to specialized geographical pockets in different agro ecological regions, mainly by poor farming communities which derive their sustenance and livelihood from such crops. However the commercial importance and market value of these crops are still unknown to the public. These crops could also help in poverty alleviation by providing income generating opportunities to the farmers by linking the development of these crops to market opportunities.

In India, these crops are grown from Jammu and Kashmir in the West to Arunachal Pradesh in the East. These crops are traditionally grown in the state of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir due to suitable climatic conditions and are not gaining enough popularity among the people due to lack of awareness and economic interest so timely investment and research into these species can save the food for the next generation arriving on the already ailing earth.

Amaranth

“Look at the amaranth: On tall mountains it grows, on the very stones and rocks and places inaccessible”. The phrase above explains the hardy nature of Amaranth. Amaranth is a multi-purpose crop with uses as food, fodder, medicine and industrial oil. Its tender green leaves are used as vegetable and tender stem as drumstick in making curry. The green vegetable is considered as purgative. The grains are used in various culinary preparations. Popped grains are used in the form of puddings (Halwa) or mixed with sugar syrup to make sweet balls (Ladoo), with honey to make flat round breadings, with milk and sugar to make porridge (Kheer). The grains are used by the tribal people of Himalaya in India for treatment of measles and snake bites and for foot and mouth disease in animals. The stem and leaf extract is used in the treatment of kidney stones. The topopherol fraction of amaranth oil contains important cholesterol lowering agents, some of which could be useful in treating cardio vascular diseases. Besides this it is an excellent source of high quality balanced protein as it contains high amounts of lysine, methionine and cysteine apart from large amounts of dietary fibre and minerals.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is one of the major grain crops of high altitude areas owing to frost tolerance and requires less care in crop raising. In higher hills, crop growing season is limited and buckwheat fits well in the farming system of higher hills because of short duration crop (2-3 months). Buckwheat has an ability to do well even in the unproductive land or poorer soil. Buckwheat is a multi-purpose crop. The whole plant, young shoots, flowers and grains are used in a variety of ways. It is often raised as leafy vegetable crop in the mid-hills of Indian Himalayas. On fast days when cereals are not eaten by the people, they eat buckwheat grains. Its starchy flour is used as porridge (kheer) or soup. The flour is also used as sweet pudding (Halwa). Buckwheat flower and green leaves are used for extraction of rutin (glucoside) used for the treatment of vascular disorders. The flower of common buckwheat produces very good quality honey. Thus, buckwheat crop fulfill the special need of a beekeeper.

Finger Millet

Finger millet is being used in preparation of traditional foods and it forms the staple diet in many rural and urban households. The crop residues are excellent source of dry matter for livestock especially in dry season as it contains up to 61% total digestible nutrients.

Kodomillet

Kodomillet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) is rich in calcium, dietary fiber, poly phenols, protein, vitamins and minerals. It contains significant amounts of essential amino acids particularly the sulphur containing amino acids (methionine and cysteine), and also having higher fat content than maize, rice, and sorghum.

Rice bean

Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) mainly attributes high protein content, essential amino acid, mineral and vitamin. Low fat content and relatively high proportion of healthy unsaturated fatty acid make it a nutritional health package. It is a multipurpose grain legume crop mainly cultivated for food, fodder and green manure specifically by the resource poor farmers.  Rice-bean provides an ecological service because of its high nitrogen content. Besides enriching soil nitrogen, it also increases good amount of humus in the soil, which helps in improving the soil structure porosity and also contributes to control weeds.

Red rice

Red rice contains polyphenols and anthocyanin, and possesses antioxidant properties. Red rice accounts for its aroma and taste. It is traditionally used for curing blood pressure and fever. It is also used for treating leucorrhea and abortion complications. Red rice also contains good amount of trace element such as zinc and iron.

Cereals (wheat and rice) are the staple diet of Indian and average carbohydrate in diet is about 60-70% of calories which derived mainly from these cereal crops. However, these cereal crops are deficit in balance essential amino acids. Utilization of grains and legumes in preparation of composite flours for various food formulations increased their nutritional properties. Hence forth, the utilization of these underutilized crops in preparation of composite flour can also enhances the nutritional and functional properties of the cereal food products. The underutilized crops include amaranth, kodomillet, buckwheat and minor millets such as rice bean and red rice. Now a days, peoples are becoming health conscious and these grains have potential to fulfill their requirements by posses both nutraceutical and nutritional properties. So there is great scope for utilization of these underutilized grains for the development of processed products.

Policies to be implemented to promote underutilized crops

As cultivation and use of underutilized crops would address the sustainable development goals of ending hunger, poverty alleviation, and for good health and well-being, sustainable production and consumption, climate change and sustainable use of ecosystems, governments need to accord adequate attention, priority and funding for its development and mainstreaming. 'Steering Committees' needs to be constituted at national level comprising policy makers (e.g. Ministry or Department of Agriculture), researchers, NGOs/NPOs, private industry players (especially for value addition) and farmer’s representatives.

The Steering Committees should coordinate R&D activities at national level and make policy decisions on behalf of the government, besides monitoring fund allocation. 'Working Groups' and 'Technical Groups' may be established at national and regional levels. The Chairs of these working groups should be members of the Steering Committees to develop a national policy on underutilized crops. Policy based interventions like food subsidy, cultivation subsidy and promotion of government food schemes (e.g. mid-day meals, promotion of multi-grain flour, etc.) would significantly promote underutilized crops and address the welfare of the poorest of the poor.

(The Author is Scientist at KVK Kathua of SKUAST Jammu. Email: ashusudan285@gmail.com)