Is there a future for orphan crops?

ICRISAT News; May 2021

Figure: Dr Jacqueline Hughes. Photo: S Punna, ICRISAT

Today’s diet of most peoples around the world is dominated by the Big 3 – rice, wheat, and maize – which account for about 50% of the world’s consumption of calories. According to FAO about 95% of the world›s food needs are provided for by just 30 species of plants. In stark contrast 30,000 plant species are edible of which over 7,000 species, such as millets, fonio, tef, yam, cassava, Bambara groundnut, jackfruit, mangosteen, sesame, okra and minor cucurbits, and many more were, or still are, a part of the diets of many communities around the world. However, with the rise of industrialized agriculture, the crop diversity on our plates has reduced and only the crops amenable to large-scale industrialized farming have come to dominate our diets.

“Orphan crops are not forgotten by the peoples who subsist on them. However, they have never received global importance, they have never (or rarely) been the focus of concerted efforts to improve productivity or quality, nor have they been the focus of global value chains. They are adapted to often very challenging environments – which resonates well with our current climatic challenges.”

Orphan crops, also known in agricultural literature as neglected and underutilized (NUS) crops cover the entire spectrum of food and industrial uses – cereals, fruits and nuts, vegetable and pulse crops, root and tuber crops, oilseeds, starch and sugar, fiber, latex, and dyes. These crops were cultivated or collected from the wild over centuries across all regions of the world. In large parts of India and sub-Saharan Africa millets were, and continue to be, a dietary staple in addition to crops such as cassava, yam, sweet potato, Bambara groundnut, etc. Millets are high in nutritional value and grow in adverse conditions (poor soils, scanty rainfall, high temperatures) while contributing to food security in a sustainable manner. They make use of local agricultural biodiversity to provide nutritious and sustainable diets. Moreover, they contribute to biodiversity and help mitigate the problems of monoculture – soil degradation, high water use leading to depletion of ground water sources, overuse of chemical inputs leading to soil and water pollution, and higher susceptibility to pests and diseases.

Orphan crops are characterized by underfunding for research and development, very little attention from agriculture extension services, weak and underdeveloped value chains, lack of awareness about their nutritional value, a perception that they are a ‘poor farmer’s crop’ and low interest among farmers and industry due to lack of demand. The neglect of orphan crops continues in today’s landscape where millions of dollars in venture capital funding are pouring into agri-tech start-ups. The latest is US$ 208 million funding for Inari, a start-up which specializes in seed technology. Inari is developing gene-edited seeds to enhance crop yield while requiring less fertilizer and water. The research will be directed to corn, wheat and soybean.

However, the situation is gradually changing. There is a growing recognition of the role of orphan crops in maintaining biodiversity, contributing to improved nutrition and local incomes in rural communities, serving as an important safety net for resource-poor smallholder farmers as these crops need fewer inputs and are often naturally resistant to the pests and diseases of the local agro-ecology as they are uniquely adapted to the environment they grow in. There is also an increasing awareness among consumers about the nutritional benefits of these crops.

See more: https://www.icrisat.org/is-there-a-future-for-orphan-crops/