AGROBIODIVERSITY in SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS What Is Agricultural Biodiversity?

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MAINSTREAMING AGROBIODIVERSITY IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS What is agricultural biodiversity? Agricultural biodiversity is a critical component of a sustainable food system. Without agricultural biodiversity, a food system cannot be sustainable. Animals, crops, trees Food Fibre Fuel and micro-organisms Ecosystems Air Water Animals PROVIDE Plants SUPPORT Soil Microbes Agricultural biodiversity at different levels Agricultural biodiversity includes all components of Species level biological diversity that constitute the Genetic level agricultural ecosystem Within a species, varieties can have: Apple Different nutritious properties Chicken Cacao resistances ©Bioversity International Agricultural biodiversity The loss of agricultural biodiversity in our global food production systems is an issue of increasing represents the variety and concern, recognized by the Rio Convention variability of animals, plants on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable and micro-organisms that are Development Goals of the United Nations. When we lose agricultural biodiversity, we also used directly or indirectly for lose the options to make our diets healthier food and agriculture. and our food systems more resilient and sustainable. How agricultural biodiversity can contribute to sustainable food systems Sustaining people Sustaining the planet The world relies on just three crops – rice, wheat Agriculture contributes around 24% of global and maize – for more than 50% of its plant-derived greenhouse gas emissions and is the single calories. Yield of these crops has plateaued. largest user of fresh water on the planet. • Tens of thousands of alternative crops can • Biodiversity-based solutions are at the heart substitute and complement these staples. of agroecological practices, which intensify Sorghum, millets and quinoa are examples of production while reducing pressures on the cereals that can grow in difficult environments, environment. have high nutrient content and have potential Agricultural lands cover about 38% of global land to increase their yields. area. One in three people in the world suffers from • Using biodiversity-based approaches on this micronutrient deciencies and almost 2 billion vast area of land can reduce emissions and people are overweight or obese. runoff, decrease the need for synthetic inputs, • Food biodiversity is a source of high-nutrient improve soil quality, encourage pollinators and species and varieties. conserve varieties and species. The production of fruit and vegetables, nuts and Every decade until 2050, agricultural production seeds falls about 22% short of population need will reduce by 2% while demand will increase according to nutrition recommendations. by 14%. • M a n y nutritious fruit, vegetables, nuts and • Agricultural biodiversity is a source of species seeds available in the wild or in traditional and varieties that are tolerant to different farming systems are not well known and could climate extremes – from drought to flooding be used to improve nutrition. and extreme temperatures. Using biodiversity- based solutions on farms can also decrease emissions that contribute to climate change. While agricultural biodiversity is by no means the only component needed in a sustainable food system, a sustainable food system cannot exist without agricultural biodiversity. www.bioversityinternational.org FOOD Food biodiversity can improve diets › Some indigenous sh species, like and nutrition. mola and darkina in Bangladesh, have much higher levels of much-needed • Thousands of species exist on farms and micronutrients than commonly produced in the wild. Within these species are millions sh, like tilapia. of varieties that have potential to spice up • Wild and indigenous plants, fruit trees and diets, improve nutrition and have a lower animal species are often more nutritious than environmental impact. In India alone, there are their better known exotic counterparts. In more than 1,000 different varieties of mango. Brazil the fruit of Amazonian fruit trees buriti, • Fruit trees, pulses, vegetables, cereals, poultry pupunha and tucuma have high levels of and other small livestock, and sh can be beta-carotene. Brazil nut, caburi, assai and uxi combined in portfolios to provide year-round also offer an impressive array of minerals and harvest of healthy, nutrient-dense foods, which phytonutrients. ll hunger gaps and specic nutrient gaps. • Healthy diets need to be available, • Nutrient content between different species, accessible, affordable and acceptable. or different varieties, can vary even a Quinoa, one of the world’s favourite grains, thousandfold: was once shunned by urban dwellers in the › Eating one To’o banana meets the daily Andes. Now this highly nutritious traditional recommended intake of vitamin A for cereal, which grows well on stony mountain women and children. They would need to lands, has become prestigious. eat 1kg of Cavendish bananas, the variety that dominates supermarket shelves, to consume the same level. Nutrient content between different species Vitamin A recommended daily intake for women and children 11kg To’o banana = of Cavendish bananas SUSTAINABILITY Using agricultural practices based • Crop diversity, increased vegetation diversity on biodiversity – genetic, varieties, and certain agroecological practices enhance wild biodiversity conservation. In Costa species, soil and landscapes – can Rica, twice as many birds and kinds of birds increase yields, and reduce waste were found in complex coffee and cacao and dependencies on external inputs. agroforests than in simpler pastures and sugarcane elds. • Soil erosion can be reduced by using agricultural biodiversity practices, such as • Soil quality. Cropping systems with high hedgerows, cover crops, agroforestry or agricultural biodiversity from crop rotations, intercropping. In Indonesia, intercropping displayed increased soil carbon by 28%–112% coffee trees with vegetables in hilly areas led and nitrogen by 18%–58% compared with to a 64% reduction in soil erosion, and no those with low agricultural biodiversity. decrease in coffee yield. • Yield. Diversifying corn and soybean systems • Pest and diseases can be controlled by by adding crop rotations while reducing tillage selecting plants that increase the number of increased yield by 7% and 22% respectively. pest predators, or by using pest or disease- A study on barley in Ethiopia found that for resistant varieties. Research in Uganda each increase in a measure of diversity, yields on common bean found that mixing 50% increased between 415kg/ha and 1,338kg/ha. traditional resistant varieties into a plot made • Diversity among and within species increases them more resistant to common diseases. resilience to environmental uctuations • Greater diversity in landscapes – with patches because they respond differently to change or of trees, wild vegetation, oral strips – leads create benecial synergies. Diversied farm to more diverse pollinators. Organic elds systems in Nicaragua recovered better and worldwide have been found to host about 70% faster than simplied systems after Hurricane more bees and 50% more kinds of bees than Mitch in 1998. conventional elds. Cropping system Soil quality + 28%–112% high agricultural biodiversity + 18%–58% from crop rotations low agricultural biodiversity soil nitrogen soil carbon SEEDS Seed systems need to increase crop • Innovation is not just about formal breeding. and variety diversity in food and Some farmer-bred crop varieties can be more productive than modern varieties. In Ethiopia, agricultural systems. one farmer variety yielded 60% more than • Crop improvement programmes released more the best commercial variety. Two farmer than 8,000 new crop varieties between the 1960s varieties have been approved by the Ethiopian and the 2000s, but they represented only 11 government for distribution. species. Many highly nutritious crops were left • Focusing only on yield can mean losing out, especially fruit, vegetables and pulses. beneficial traits like taste and nutrition. Protein, • For all farmers to be able to access seeds minerals and vitamins of 43 crops declined means supporting informal as well as formal between 1950 and 1999. With tomato, a focus on sources of seed. The formal sector provides transportability and shelf life led to loss of flavour. less than 5% of seeds of traditional crops in • Working with farmers can strengthen West Africa, less than 10% of rice in Nepal, and production and distribution of local crops. In less than 20% of wheat in Ethiopia and Syria. Kenya, introducing traditional leafy vegetables • Breeding tends to decrease the overall genetic to the formal market, making seed available diversity in modern varieties, which can be and training farmers led to an increase of 23% risky. In the 1970s, US maize was severely in farmers planting at least one species of threatened by corn blight, which destroyed traditional leafy vegetable. almost US$1 billion of maize and halved yields. • Overcomplex regulations can stifle farmer The disease was contained by identifying maize innovation. Some countries, like Costa Rica germplasm that was not affected and using it to and Nepal, have adopted simpler farmer-led breed resistant varieties. procedures to control and release seeds. This can bring diversity back to farming systems. Access to seeds – formal sources of seeds provide less than: 5% 10% 20% of traditional crops in of rice in of wheat in West Africa Nepal Ethiopia and Syria CONSERVATION Conserving

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