National Consultation on
Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agro-biodiversity Hotspots
Constitution Club, New Delhi
27 September 2013
Issues Paper
Our First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru often pointed out that we are a poor people
inhabiting a rich country. Because of our richness in biodiversity, we are ranked among
the major mega biodiversity areas in the world. Unfortunately many of these
biodiversity rich areas have been affected by severe genetic erosion. They have thus
become biodiversity hotspots. Within the overall canvass of biodiversity, we are rich in
genetic variability in economically important plants. Such variability in plants of
economic value is referred to as agro-biodiversity. Several of the agro-biodiversity
hotspots are inhabited predominantly by tribal families. Although tribal women and
men have a conservation ethos which results in their paying considerable attention to
natural resources conservation and enhancement, economic and public policy
compulsions often lead to their shifting their attention from endemic agro-biodiversity
to modern high yielding varieties. Genetic homogeneity leads to genetic vulnerability to
biotic and abiotic stresses and this in turn necessitates the use of chemical pesticides.
Swaminathan (Swaminathan, M S. 2011. Towards an Era of Biohappiness: Biodiversity and
food, Health and Livelihood Security. World Scientific, Singapore) has shown the way to
convert agro-biodiversity hotspots into happy spots by using agro-biodiversity for
creating more food, jobs and income in an ecologically sustainable manner. At present, a
considerable segment of the local population, particularly women and children, suffer
from the following three major kinds of endemic hunger.

Calorie deprivation arising from poverty induced under-nutrition

Protein hunger caused by inadequate consumption of pulses or milk, fish and
meat

Hidden hunger caused by the deficiency of micronutrients in the diet such as
iron, iodine, zinc, vitamin A, Vitamin B12 etc.
The challenge before us is the development and adoption of agricultural strategies
which can help to alleviate poverty and malnutrition in the agro-biodiversity hotspots.
The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation has been addressing this issue in the
Koraput District of Odisha, Wayanad district of Kerala and Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu. All
these areas are inhabited predominantly by tribal families. These areas are
characterized by rich agro-biodiversity arising from cultural, culinary and curative
(medicinal plants) diversity. Women play a key role in the conservation and the
enrichment of such diversity. They have over centuries conserved for public good at
personal cost rich genetic variability. More recently, the government of India through
the National Plant Variety Protection and Farmers’ Rights Authority has started
recognizing their invaluable contributions to public good through the Genome Saviour
Award.
The purpose of this Consultation is to examine the reasons for severe genetic erosion in
agro-biodiversity rich areas, thereby leading them to become hotspots. How can we
arrest the decline in genetic wealth and how can we convert such areas into happy spots
characterized by the economic and physical wellbeing of the local population. This issue
will be discussed in the following panels
1. Commercialisation as a trigger to conservation – this session will deal with
methods of creating an economic stake in conservation, thereby helping to
improve the economic wellbeing of the primary conservers.
2. Methods of promoting integrated attention to conservation, cultivation,
consumption and commerce, in order to ensure that a representative sample of
existing genetic diversity in preserved for posterity.
3. Strategies for marrying nutrition and agriculture, so that nutri farms can be
promoted.
4. Promoting Farming Systems for Nutrition (FSN) which can provide agricultural/
horticultural remedies to the prevailing nutritional maladies
The issue of integrating nutrition and agriculture has been discussed by Swaminathan
in a recent editorial in Science (Swaminathan M S. 2012. Combating Hunger, Science, Vol.
338). He has advocated that the every farm should become a Nutri-Farm through the
cultivation of biofortified crops occurring in nature or which have been developed by
Mendelian breeding. Naturally occurring biofortified plants like sweet potato, moringa,
bajra etc can be suitably introduced in the local farming system.
The malnutrition situation in India is a cause for professional, political and public
concern. Recent surveys indicate that 22% of the Indian population is undernourished,
whereas 40% of children below the age of 3 years are underweight. A majority of
children between 6 to 35 months are anemic, 33% of women aged between 15-49 years
have a BMI below normal. Every 4th child born has a birth weight below 2.5 kgs. Such
LBW children suffer from many handicaps in later life including impaired cognitive
abilities. The Nutrition Advisory Council to the Prime Minister has identified 200 high
malnutrition burden districts in the country. Many of these districts also fall under the
category of agro-biodiversity hotspots. Prime Minister has referred to the prevailing
malnutrition scenario “as a national shame”.
MSSRF has helped to introduce two important policy initiatives to alter this
unacceptable situation. First, the National Food Security Bill (2013) has included nutrimillets in the public distribution system (PDS). These under-utilised or orphan crops
(referred to officially as “Coarse Cereals”) will be made available at `.1 per kg. This will
open up greater market opportunities for these nutritious and climate smart cereals,
thereby providing an incentive to both conserve and cultivate them. The greater the
opportunity for remunerative marketing, the greater will be the interest of the farm
families in the agro-biodiversity hotspot areas to cultivate them. Hence, the widening of
the food basket to include millets in the PDS is an important step in converting
‘hotspots’ into ‘happy spots’. Secondly, MSSRF’s suggestion has led to the Union Finance
Minister providing Rs. 200 crore in the budget for 2013-14 for starting a pilot
programme on Nutri-farms. In such Nutri-farms, crops and crop varieties rich in
micronutrients, like iron-rich bajra, protein-rich maize, and zinc – rich wheat will be
introduced.
Output : The output of this Consultation will be the design and promotion of farming
systems which can help to convert agro-biodiversity into jobs, income, health and
nutritional wellbeing, on an environmentally sustainable basis thereby contributing to
the alleviation of poverty and malnutrition. 2014 has been declared by the United
Nations as the International Year of Family Farming. The output of this consultation
will help to develop a strategy for converting every family farm into Nutri-farm, which
can help to overcome both poverty and hunger. The consultation will help to spread
nutritional literacy and thereby assist in achieving the goals of the National Food
Security Bill. Also, the consultation will help in proving ideas for scaling up the ‘NutriFarm’ initiative of the Finance Minister.
M S Swaminathan
Encl: Editorial in Science