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The Role of

Crop Diversity

Despite the high levels of insecurity, mountain environments host a diverse array of food crops and crop diversity, which continue to evolve under local farming systems. . High levels of genetic diversity is important for food security and for adaptation in heterogeneous mountain environments, and also provides future options for adaptation. Mountain communities sustain processes of evolution and co-evolution for a diversity of crops, providing a source of resilient crops for adaptation locally and more widely.

At the Second International Learning Exchange in Tajikistan in 2015, participating communities identified the importance of planting different crop varieties together to reduce risk, and of using local crop varieties because they are already adapted, e.g. to drought and pests. During the biocultural exchange, it was shared that in Tajikistan, local fruit trees in Jafr can survive the increasingly hot and dry conditions whereas introduced varieties cannot, so farmers are planting local varieties and grafting introduced varieties onto them to produce fruit for the market. In Tuggoz, Tajikistan which is located in a center of wheat diversity, farmers have found that local wheat varieties produce higher yields than introduced modern varieties. In both communities, organic fertilizers have proved better for soil fertility and structure than costly inorganic fertilizers. See Tajikistan Event Report, page 6 for additional information.