Farming communities in traditional agroecosystems have been playing an important role in conserving agricultural diversity. They are not only the custodians but also managers of the crop diversity and maintain the dynamic processes of crop evolution and adaptation, the key elements of sustainable agricultural productions. The Himalayan highlands are important centres of crop plant diversity due to high ecological heterogeneity and high local socio-cultural integrations. The crop genetic diversity of Kumaon Himalaya in Uttarachal State of India has been documented in the present study. Existing crop genetic diversity at inter-and intra-species level was assessed and factors for changes in crop compositions and farming systems during the recent past were studied. Farmer management of rice landrace populations were studied in greater detail. Various benefit enhancing options for farmers from local crop diversity were scrutinized based on farmer perceptions and priorities for efficient management of local crop diversity on-farm and its sustainable utilization for agricultural production.
Role of informal seed system in landrace diversification, in situ conservation on-farm and sustainability in production were investigated as a case study for rice diversity in Indian Himalayas. The diachronic pattern of landrace occurrence revealed substantial increase, both in landrace number and frequency, in time. The local level seed supply in Uttarakhand Himalaya revealed that about 96% seed supply originated from informal system and a mere 4% seed supply is met from formal seed supply networks. In higher elevation ranges, beyond 1200 masl, largely landrace cultivation is practiced and a greater landrace diversification in traditional production was observed. Substantial variations due to environmental adaptations in niche habitats help provide important donor germplasm for crop improvement to users. Further, the population genetic structure also indicated enough diversity being maintained on-farm. Developing pathways for strengthening local level seed system for landrace diversification linked to sustainability in food production and conserving agro-biodiversity has been emphasized.
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