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Exploring the role of diverse underutilized nutri-crops on food and nutritional security of ethnic communities in Eastern Himalaya

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Title Exploring the role of diverse underutilized nutri-crops on food and nutritional security of ethnic communities in Eastern Himalaya
 
Creator Sarkar, Sujit
Sangeetha, V
Gurung, Natasha
Mahra, G S
Priya, Satya
Venu, Lenin
Joshi, Pratibha
Barman, Dwijendra
Singh, Premlata
 
Subject Food and nutrition security
Mainstreaming strategies
Traditional nutri-crops
 
Description 137-145
The role of traditional underutilized food in fulfilling the nutritional requirements of rural communities is acknowledged
across the world. The Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalaya is considered as one of the hotspots of diverse underutilized nutritious
crops and vegetables. Though the earlier generation used those diverse traditional nutri-crops to fulfill food and nutritional
requirements, their usage and cultivation have declined over the period. The new generation is not aware of the nutritional
values of these local crops. In this context, the present study was conducted to document the traditional nutri-crops of Sikkim
and Darjeeling Himalaya, and to suggest future policies for mainstreaming these traditional crops into the farmers’ existing
cropping system. Participatory rationality analysis technique was conceptualized and used to understand the usage of different
traditional nutri-crops in the region from a sample of 560 farmers. The findings revealed that the rationality index score of
Ishkush (Sechium edule) was highest (4.66) followed by Chuche Karela (Momordica charantia L.- 4.38) and Pumpkin
(Cucurbita pepo-4.37). The crops with highest perceived medicinal (4.86) and nutritive value (4.93) was Ishkush (Sechium
edule). The major recommendation for popularizing the traditional nutri-crops was ‘Ensuring better price for traditional nutricrops
(81%)’ followed by ‘Start research initiative specifically on local unexplored nutri-crops to enhance their productivity
(80%)’, and ‘Demonstrating the potential of indigenous nutri-crops in fighting malnutrition through extension agents (78%)’.
 
Date 2024-02-22T11:19:04Z
2024-02-22T11:19:04Z
2024-02
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 0975-1068 (Online); 0972-5938 (Print)
http://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/63386
https://doi.org/10.56042/ijtk.v23i2.911
 
Language en
 
Relation Int Cl.24: A23L 11/00, A23L 7/00
 
Publisher NIScPR-CSIR,India
 
Source IJTK Vol.23(2) [February 2024]