
Sayed Azam-Ali
Chief Executive Officer
Crops For the Future
AsianScientist (Feb. 10, 2017) – Technological innovations and intense research into crop improvement enabled the Green Revolution in the 1960s. A combination of new irrigation methods, pesticide and fertilizer use, and crop genetics enabled industrial farming to meet the demands of the burgeoning world population, while minimizing the amount of land cleared for agriculture.
However, reliance on industrial-scale farming has meant that just four crops—maize, rice, wheat and soybean—make up 60 percent of the worldwide food supply. This drastic reduction in crop biodiversity has made the global food supply vulnerable to drought and disease, a situation set to be worsened by climate change.
The silver lining is that there are over 7,000 species of edible crops that are currently untapped, said Professor Sayed Azam-Ali, CEO of Crops for The Future (CFF), the first and only center dedicated to research on underutilized crops for food and non-food uses.
In this interview with Asian Scientist Magazine, Azam-Ali explains why food security is an important issue and what CFF is doing about it.
- Why is food security such a pressing problem today?
According to the World Food Program, around 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. Rather surprisingly, the Asian continent rather than Africa has the largest number of under-nourished people. So, in many cases, whilst people have access to enough food they don’t have the proper nutrition needed for human development and growth. The challenge is therefore providing ‘nourishment’ from more nutritious crops such as leafy vegetables and pulses on top of food security i.e. ‘sustenance’ from calorie rich staples.
We are also already seeing a pressing problem today with our global temperature, which is expected to increase by 2°C above pre-industrial revolution levels without urgent action. This has already seen serious implications on agricultural growth and productivity. The world population is also estimated to rise to nine billion by 2050s—how is agriculture production going to cope with hotter, drier climates and a growing population?
We need to diversify our agricultural systems to ensure that we can provide alternative food sources that provide nutrition and food security even when climates are volatile and unpredictable. In addition to the world’s major crops, we need to provide a more diverse diet through the use of currently underutilized crops.
- How can the adoption of underutilized crops be implemented on national, regional and global scales?
There are 7,000 species of underutilized crops known to be used for food through our history, so why are we only dependent on four major crops—which are already being stretched to their limits—when we know there are healthier alternatives out there?
Underutilized crops have the potential to increase nutrition and food security, and provide income generation for the poor. However, they are often neglected due to supply and use constraints—by both farmers and researchers. Our role at CFF is to educate and conduct research on the unrealized potential of these neglected crops so that we can develop markets and value chains from them.
The Crops For the Future headquarters, located in Semenyih, Malaysia. The three iconic domes are made from glulam, ecologically sustainable laminated timbers. Credit: CFF. To address this issue, we are building a global alliance for underutilized crops, the Association of International Research and Development Centers for Agriculture (AIRCA), a nine-member consortium with partnerships across the globe.
We also need to empower farmers, with the necessary tools and information needed to provide for better cropping systems using underutilized crops. We are currently doing this with CropBASE, an app that provides farmers with information on which underutilized crops and cropping systems would best fit their current and future needs.
We are currently testing this app with farmers in Pahang, Malaysia and hope that the government of Malaysia will support the expansion of the app as a national rollout. We must also empower women. If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry people in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million, according to data from the World Food Program.
- What are some examples of underutilized crops that have great potential to become: a) a food staple of the future, b) a source of income for small-scale farmers, and c) a source of nutrition for developing countries?
CFF’s goal is not to replace the four major crops; rather, our goal is to complement these with underutilized crops and a more diverse cropping systems that can help meet the challenges of our increasingly volatile climates. Underutilized crops that have potential to be high-value crops will provide higher incomes for small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs. Among the crops that CFF is focusing on are moringa, bambara groundnut and sesbania.
Moringa oleifera or drumstick tree is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree, native to the southern foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India, and widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas where its young seed pods and leaves are used as vegetable. The drumstick is commonly used in South Asian cuisines, but all parts of the tree are actually edible. It is a great source of nutrition, high in protein, vitamins A, B and C, and minerals.
Moringa is has potential for biomass and biodiesel production, intercropping with oil palm and other food crops as well source for food. One of CFF’s programs, FoodPLUS, has developed an instant moringa soup which can easily be transported and used by those with limited access to food and even refugees and displaced people.
The bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) verdc.) is resistant to harsh conditions, making it one of the most adaptable of all plants. Its ideal environment is hot, dry regions; it yields better in areas with low rainfall than it does in areas of heavy rainfall. FoodPLUS has also created muruku (a savory Indian snack) and biscotti using the bambara groundnut, which are high in protein and low in fat.
An assortment of muruku made with bambara groundnut by the FoodPLUS team. Credit: CFF. Sesbania grandiflora is another example of an underutilized crop ideal for consumption because most parts of the plant are edible and rich in nutrients. It is also beneficial for consumption by insects. As part of FishPLUS’s ongoing project in replacing fish meal with insect meal, they successfully used black soldier flies fed on sesbania as insect meal for aquaculture feed. Therefore, it is not only beneficial for human consumption, but it can also be used for aquaculture feed and in turn sustainable aquaculture.
- What is an ongoing research project at CFF that most excites you and why?
Underutilized crops have unrealized potential yet to be discovered, and that in itself is an exciting part of our continuous research. CFF’s research programs show how underutilized crops can help meet specific challenges facing humanity in terms of food security, human and animal nutrition and diversified cropping systems. Our programs are based on multi-disciplinary, outcome-based projects and collaborations, which cover every stage of the research value chain from biotechnology and crop genetics to social and economic policy.
Apart from the previously mentioned CropBASE, FoodPLUS and FishPLUS programs, we are also nurturing the next generation through our doctoral training partnership, a joint program with the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus to train PhD and Masters students in R&D on underutilized crops. The program encourages future generations to become advocates for agricultural diversity which is crucial as they are the face of the future of agriculture.
- What does CFF hope to achieve in the next ten years?
Through the Global Action Plan for Agricultural Diversification (GAPAD) our ambition is to ‘transform agriculture for good’ by demonstrating how agricultural diversification can help meet the vision of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. Abolishing poverty by 2030 will indeed be a huge challenge, but we need to meet this challenge with an equally bold vision: Diversification of our agricultural systems, not only for some parts of the world but for many.
It will be no easy task, but through raising more awareness, finding sustainable solutions and empowering farmers is crucial to achieving this. We can’t do this alone, which is why we need to develop strong partnerships with others and, most importantly, sponsorship and funding.
We will also continue to be the leading catalyst for underutilized crops through our research efforts. We are hoping to educate people, young and old, on the importance of having agricultural diversification in our growing world. This in particular is important for our future generations, so we must nurture them with as much information and excitement for underutilized crops as we can—because the future of agriculture depends on them.
This article is from a monthly series called Asia’s Scientific Trailblazers. Click here to read other articles in the series.
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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine; Photo: Crops For the Future.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.