Pseudocereals and millets: the lost crops of Kashmir

The aim of present study was to know about past cultivation of pseudocereals and millets in Kashmir province of Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. These crops which were cultivated throughout Kashmir in plains as well as in hilly areas are buckwheat species, Fagopyrum esculentum and Fagopyrum tataricum; amaranth and minor millets, Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum. In Kashmir these are now forgotten crops. Few plants of amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus) are still grown in almost every kitchen garden in Kashmir. The crop is however not cultivated commercially neither in Kashmir nor in Ladakh or Jammu provinces of the state. Our study has revealed that cultivation of all these crops has been abandoned some five or six decades back throughout Kashmir excepting in few farflung hilly areas in north Kashmir. Currently these crops are also cultivated in Ladakh, but here also their cultivation is dwindling rapidly. The reasons as to why farmers have abandoned these crops and are increasingly losing interest in these biological assets in the areas of their present cultivation have been discussed. There is a need to rescue these threatened crops which have many advantages besides, being nowadays categorized as quality health foods. During our survey in Ladakh province we have collected 30 germplasm accessions of these crops from various locations. These have been deposited in National Seed Gene Bank at NBPGR, New Delhi for conservation and evaluation. The improvement and revival of these lost crops has the potential to diversify agriculture, food system and income of the poor farmers and have the ability to ensure food security and livelihood of the people in this Himalayan state under future adverse climatic conditions.