AgroBioDiversity and Food Security

management of the interactions

between crops and domestic animals

their associated biodiversity and the

environment

Genetic resources

Components of BioDiversity

Abiotic Factors Socio Economic

"the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable & nutritious food. “

Originally, food security was understood to apply at the national level, 1974

new definition emerged at 1996 this time emphasis on individuals rather than the nation

Household food security exists when all members, at all times, have access to enough food for an active, healthy life.

the right of each nation to maintain and develop its own capacity to produce basic foods respecting cultural and productive diversity

based on 6 principls

Focuses on Food for People

Values Food

Providers

Localizes Food

Systems

Makes Decisions

Locally

Builds Knowledge and Skills

Works with

Nature

ABD Management

• Increasing investment on agricultural research anddevelopment

• Increased staple food crop production

• Improved soil fertility and conserving soil by

a) minimising tillage

b) enhancing and maintaining organic cover

c) controlling salinity, heat and drought

• Increased efficiency of water and fertilizer use

• Integrated management of pests, diseases andweeds

• Expanding social and safety interventions

• International and regional market value strategies

• Improving policy support for food security

• Research and education

A short scenario of agro-biodiversity loss

• In the past few decades, the replacement of indigenous

varieties of crops, fruits, vegetables by high-yield crop varieties has depleted agro-biodiversity.

• Indigenous varieties and livestock species have lost their significance due to intensification of farming and separation of local communities.

• The well adapted old cultivars have been replaced by few genetically modified varieties and breeds.

• New species are ranked second in threatening the agrobiodiversity.

•Mesquite plants have made cultivated lands vulnerable tocultivation while others eucalyptus and parthenium byreleasing allelopathic chemicals retard seed germination andplant growth.

•Agriculture intensification has reduced crop diversity to fewvarieties in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.

•Buck wheat was grown on wide scale earlier but now it is rarely seen in the fields of the region because farmers are keen to grow potatoes and high-yielding wheat varieties.

Agro-biodiversity has a major role in providing food and promoting foodsecurity for the future. So its importance can not be over emphasized.

Support to farmers should not be provided as charity but as a means of

meeting the survival needs of humankind today and in future.

The government should be given subsidy to encourage the farmers to

grow old, neglected and underutilized crop species.

The government should redesign policies and take serious efforts for the

conservation of agro biodiversity in the country.

Continued access to genetic resources and conservation and development

of agricultural biodiversity are essential components in the fight for food

sovereignty

The other aspect is to ensure the continued availability ofbiodiversity for present and future generations. Thiscannot be ensured by proprietary ownership of fewpeople or institutions who are motivated by profit .

For this purpose,the involvement and participation of allcommunities is essential so that this diversity can beprotected from every aspect.

IN WHAT FUTURE WE WILL BE LIVING?

WITHWITHOR

We do not inherit earth from our ancestors, we have just borrowed it from our children - Native American Proverb.