Other Field
Food Crops
ACTIVITIES
Food Barley
Improvement
In
collaboration with ICARDA,
the FFC group has supported a Working Group on food barley to
review disperse efforts on sustainable production improvement,
to define priorities and to promote and establish collaborations
among researchers.
Barley is a major staple food in several regions of the world:
in some areas of North Africa and Near East, in the highlands
of Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, in the Andean countries
and in the Baltic States. Food barley is generally found in regions
where other cereals do not grow well due to altitude, low rainfall,
or soil salinity. It remains the most viable option for dry areas
(< 300 mm of rainfall) and in those typical barley production
systems where other alternatives for food crops seem inexistent
such as the mountains and highlands.
These distinct regions are characterised by harsh living conditions
and are home to some of the poorest farmers in the world who depend
on the low productive systems. In North Africa, the average yield
of food barley is less of 1 tn/ha although the potential is 3
tn/ha. Apart from the abiotic constraints, food barley yields
poorly because of poor management and lack of resistance to biotic
stresses. Additionally, farmers cultivating food barley do not
generally have access to information and improved cropping system
technologies. Improved sustainable production of barley can play
a significant role in improving food security of this population.
In
North Africa, average national consumption of food barley in 1999
in Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia was 57, 20, 13 and 5 kg/person/y,
respectively. Although specific statistics for food barley within
countries are lacking, it is accepted that the consumption is
much higher in certain areas within the country, e.g. Gamal region
in Algeria, Tensift in Morocco, Sfax in Tunisia. In the rest of
the world, barley is also consumed as food in the highlands of
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Perú and Ecuador (70, 20, 40 and 15
kg/person/y, respectively), in East Europe (Estonia, Moldova,
Latvia, Lithuania: 45, 26, 22, and 17 kg/person/y, respectively,
in 1999) and in the highlands of Central Asia (no estimates available).
Food barley consumption has decreased considerably in the last
40 years with the increase of urban population and, often, the
introduction of national policies supporting wheat consumption.
This is the case of Morocco where food barley consumption has
decreased from 87 kg/person/y in 1961 to 57 in 1999. In the case
of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, food barley consumption in 1961
was 27, 35 and 15 kg/person/y, respectively.
Food barley use is associated with local knowledge on preparation,
health and nutritious attributes. Food barley is used either for
bread making (usually mixed with bread wheat) or for specific
recipes. Its cultivars have particular characteristics appreciated
by consumers that make them irreplaceable by feed or malting barley.
Local knowledge and unique genetic material are under risk of
being lost for future generations.
There is a scope for improving livelihood of the rural population
in the regions where barley is a staple food not only by increasing
sustainable crop productivity but also by improving nutrition,
reducing work drudgery and developing barley-based local industry.
The nutritional benefits of food naked barley have been accepted
for the simple reason that no lignin, as in the covered types,
is present in the grain or flour. In the case of hulled barley,
there is a technical process for de-hull grains. Further studies
on the nutritional value of food barley will hopefully be carried-out
under the new CGIAR “Challenge Program” on biofortification
of the world’s staple foods, which has been launched in
October 2002. Due to the potential nutritional benefits, it is
also possible that food barley may be exported to developed countries
following modern life styles and increasing interest for healthy
food and prevention of coronary diseases.
Improved food barley should also alleviate the pressure on natural
resources (i.e. rangeland or water for irrigating other food crops).
It also may reduce countries’ food bill for imported products
as most food barley is locally produced. One of the key features
of food barley research and development is the urgent need to
sensitize policy makers and development agents regarding food
barley importance in the economy of limited resources areas. Consequently,
they can promote barley use as food and set policies that favour
barley development, production and use for human nutrition.
Most
efforts on barley breeding have been devoted to improve feed and
malting cultivars. International agricultural research has almost
completely neglected the improvement (quantity, quality and sustainability)
of food barley. Nevertheless, there are some recent changes in
this attitude and ICARDA and collaborating NARS are proposing
to make a global effort for the improvement of traditional cultivars
while reducing the lost of this unique genetic material and maintaining
a wider genetic base of barley that could be of crucial use for
the future. A indication of this effort has been the organization
of a workshop on “Food Barley Improvement” by ICARDA
and FAO with support from the OPEC Fund for International Development
(January 2002, Hammamet, Tunisia) and with participants from major
food barley producing regions around the world.
Fundamental issues risen during the “Food Barley Improvement
Workshop” included: i) the need to fill gaps in baseline
information; ii) the recognition of the fragility and complexity
of the systems and thus, the need to incorporate multidisciplinary
components in projects; iii) the necessary participation of all
stakeholders, including farmers, in any effort for development,
including research activities.
Present activities:
• a regional project “Improving Food Barley and Livelihood
in the Maghreb through Enhanced Tradition and Innovation”
is being formulated in collaboration with ICARDA.
• a book on traditional knowledge on food barley is being
prepared by ICARDA with support from the FFC group.
For
more information, please contact:
Helena Gómez
Macpherson– Agricultural Officer – FAO (Italy)
Stefania Grando–
Barley Breeder - ICARDA (Syria)
Barley Improvement
in Latin America
In collaboration
with the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean,
FFCG developed a Working Group on Barley for Latin America. The
private sector (beer makers) is an active component of this working
group which strengthens collaboration among the national research
programmes of the region for the benefit of malting barley as
well as barley for human consumption.
Meetings:
Cochabamba, Bolivia - December 1994
Temuco, Chile - December 1996
Uruguay - December 1999
Bahia Blanca, Argentina - 2002 (cancelled)
For more information,
please contact:
Juan Izquierdo
Agricultural Officer - FAO Latin America & Caribbe
Helena Gómez
Macpherson Agricultural Officer - FAO
Post-rainy
season sorghum in the Sahel
Post-rainy season
sorghum is the major staple crop in many isolated and difficult
environments in the Sahel. Distinctive ways of cultivation and
varieties have been developed during the last centuries to adapt
sorghum growth to these harsh environments. Post-rainy season
sorghum comprises from sorghum de decrue in Mauritania to sorghum
muskwari in Cameroon or berbere in Chad. They all have in common
that the crop grows on soil stored water. In Cameroon, muskwari
sorghum represents 25-30% of total sorghum production. In Chad,
berbere sorghum represents 20 % of total. Most important, post-rainy
season sorghum in these regions may be the only source of food
at the time is harvested, either because there is no access to
markets or because the environment is so limiting that it cannot
sustain other crops.
FAO, the Fundación
Politécnica de Cataluña, ICRISAT
and the West and Central Africa Sorghum Research Network (WCASRN)
organized a regional workshop on post-rainy season sorghum in
the Sahel. The workshop took place in Nouakchott / Kaedi, Mauritania
from 11 to 15 March 2001 with the support of the Spanish Agency
for International Cooperation (AECI). The major objectives of
the workshop were (i) to review and examine research efforts and
specific projects addressing the improvement of post-rainy season
sorghum; (ii) to identify constraints and research needs; (iii)
to identify promising technology; and (iv) to discuss and define
an action plan for research and collaboration.
The book “La
culture du sorgho de décrue en Afrique de l’Ouest
et du Centre. Situation actuelle et définition d’un
Plan d’Action Régional” includes all contributions
and the action plan (in French with English abstracts).
For more information,
please contact:
Helena Gómez
Macpherson Agricultural Officer - FAO
Brahim Kebe Agricultural
Officer – FAO Africa
Andean
Crops
In
July 1998, FAO, in collaboration with
Universities in Peru organized the First
Regional meeting on Andean crops in Arequipa.
During the meeting papers analyzing research
progress on Chenopium quinoa (quinoa),
Amaranthus caudatus (amaranth) and
Lupinus mutabilis (lupine) were
presented. Aspects of consumption and its
promotion were also discussed. In October 2000,
an International Seminar on "Quinoa, promising
food and crop for the XXI century" was organised
in Bogotá, Colombia, in collaboration
with Fundación América
Latina.
FAO, the Universidad
Nacional del Altiplano and CIP
have prepared a CD-Rom on Andean Crops (in Spanish).
