SHARPProfileS H A S T R I A P P L I E D R E S E A R C H P R O J E C T

R E S E A R C H T E A M Department of Chemistry, Queen'sUniversity, Kingston, Ontario,Canada GARY W VANLOON(Principal Investigator)BO PAZDERKAJOSHUA RUBENSTEIN

National Institute of Science,Technology and DevelopmentStudies, New Delhi, India MOHAMMAD RAIS (Co-Investigator)AVINASH PRASADKIRAN ARYAPRABHA BISHT

Centre for Plants, People andEcosystems, Chennai, India D NARSIMHAN (Co-Investigator)LAWRENCE SURENDRAP DAYANANDANINDIRA KALYANASUNDARAMP SARAVANANMANJULAA K RATHNKUMARIC CHADRAKALA

The Shastri AppliedResearch Project seeks toaddress urgent issues insocial development andhealth, economic reformand environmental management. Canadianand Indian researchers arecollaborating on 19 studies on various topics.SHARP is implemented bythe Shastri Indo-CCanadianInstitute and funded by theCanadian InternationalDevelopment Agency.

June 2005

LAND is often managed for mul-tiple benefits like agriculturalproduction, biodiversity con-servation, water quality, soil

health and supporting human life.Sustainable land managementmeans managing land without dam-aging ecological processes. Itrequires maintaining biodiversity ofspecies, populations, habitats andecosystems. It also involves protect-ing ecological integrity, ie, the gen-eral health and resilience of naturallife support systems, including theirability to assimilate wastes and with-stand stresses such as climaticchange and ozone depletion. It fur-ther entails husbanding natural cap-ital, ie, the stock of productive soil,fresh water, forests, clean air, oceanand other renewable resources thatare linked to survival, health andprosperity of human communities.

All discussions of biodiver-sity invariably turn to the benefitsthat society derives from it every-day. The value of biodiversity isultimately infinite as natural sys-tems are irreplaceable. Agricultureis a key component in biodiversityconservation and can best demon-strate how to make best manage-ment practices available to peopleinterested in sustainable land man-agement.

Agricultural biodiversityencompasses the variety and vari-ability of animals, plants andmicroorganisms that are necessaryto sustain key functions of the agro-ecosystem - its structure andprocesses for, and in support of,food production and food security.In India, many locally diverse foodproduction systems are under threat,a threat that is associated with the

■ ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Policy Development to Support Biodiversitywithin Agricultural Systems of Hilly Regionsof North and South India

Steep slope challengein Uttaranchal

Dry land paddy cultivation in Koli Hills

Rais-Narsimhan-VanLoon-Revised-Final.qxd 18/8/2005 12:58 PM Page 3

rapid expansion of the GreenRevolution and intensive livestockproduction, including the replace-ment of local varieties and landracesby improved or exotic varieties. As aconsequence, more than 90% oflocal crop varieties and manybreeds of domestic animals havebeen lost. The result is a marginal-ization of small-scale, diverse foodproduction systems that conservenative varieties of crops and breedsof domestic animals, which form thegenetic pool for food and agriculturein the future. The overall objectiveof this study is to build a foundationfor the development of policies thatwill support the maintenance andenhancement of diverse agro-ecosystems.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The objective of this project isto identify specific indicator speciesand ecological communities in orderto document agro- and silvi-biodi-versity within a cultivated landscape.The development of appropriate bio-diversity indicators that will providereliable assessments of the level ofbiodiversity and the overall state(whether stressed or healthy) of theagro-ecosystems and native ecosys-tems is of particular importance.

The study holistically exam-ines issues of sustainable land man-agement in selected hilly regions inNorth and South India. Since theirunique biodiversity is a defining fea-ture of these regions, strategies toconserve and enhance biodiversity -principally agro- and silvi-biodiversi-ty - are a central feature of the study.

This is an applied researchproject aiming at relevant policyrecommendations. The researchteam is carrying out a comprehen-sive description of the issues andclear proposals that support sustain-able land management in the specif-ic areas under study. The informa-tion from the project is conveyeddirectly to the local population andpolitical and administrative authori-ties at several levels.

The work aims at a nationalpolicy relevance, which at the sametime can serve as a model to shapeagricultural policy at the state and

local government levels. The formu-lations will address ground realities,keeping in mind the changing glob-al policy environment that isincreasingly impinging on domesticpolicy environment.

The study involves field stud-ies in a newly formed northern hillstate of Uttaranchal with its ownspecial and specific ecosystem con-texts, and regions within the South

Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a majoragricultural state. In terms of agro-ecosystem diversity, agriculture isdependent on rain-fed crops as wellas river basin based agricultureinvolving water sharing with theneighboring state of Karnataka.

In Uttaranchal, the idea is todocument agro-, silvi-, and naturalbiodiversity through a well organizedapproach; study the role of tradition-al agriculture; examine present foodhabits of people in the region with aview to understanding reasons forchanges in practices, if any, in therecent past; incorporate gatheredinformation into decision supportsystems for improved management ofregional agricultural and other bio-logical resources; encourage involve-ment of women in decision-making;determine ways in which agriculturalcredit and subsidies systems can beoriented in order to encourage bio-diverse farming, and transfer thisknowledge through high-impact pub-lications and direct contact with

farmers, advisors and policymakers,in order to support the growth ofprosperous local cultures using andsustaining biodiversity in both tradi-tional and innovative ways.

In Tamil Nadu the workinvolves research on and documen-tation of issues, some of which aresimilar to those in Uttaranchal. Theteam is giving emphasis on assessingthe numbers and types of medicinal

plants in various areas and methodsto conserve them. It is also examin-ing policies that can support systemsthrough which economic benefitswill in large part accrue to localcommunities.

PROJECT REACH

This field-based, community-focused and livelihood-centeredresearch aims at generating informa-tion and data to help policymakersstrengthen agro-biodiversity both inrelation to food security and to pro-moting sustainable natural resourceuse and conservation. A participatoryresearch design fully involves thecommunities at the field both in termsof gathering research information anduse of the collected information.

The field research aims atassisting policymakers in the 2states to understand the problemsthe communities face, especiallywith regard to unsustainable man-agement of natural resources suchas soil and water. The maintenance

Headloaders in Ukhimath

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of agro-biodiversity and activities,which enhance agro- and silvi-bio-diversity, especially among margin-al and small farmers in hilly areas ofUttaranchal and Tamil Nadu, alsohas important lessons for agro-bio-diversity in the plains. Despite theincreasing stress on the ecosystemsin hilly regions and threats to it fromthe shift from traditional agricultureto modern resource intensive agri-culture, there are still important les-sons to be learned from traditionalagriculture in these regions that usea combination of agro and silvi bio-diversity. It is recognized that tradi-tional agro-ecosystems maintain notonly crop (species) diversity but alsofunctional diversity.

WORK DONE SO FAR

The study is in it advancedstages and has completed the objec-tives of site selection; documentationof specific data required; finalization

of research methodology; data col-lection; extensive interaction withvillage communities, and broadstrategies for dissemination of projectoutcomes. In Uttaranchal, two casestudies involving various aspects ofagro-biodiversity policy are inprogress. The research team hasundertaken a comprehensive fieldsurvey on tested questionnaires in 28villages of Tarikhet block in Almoradistrict and 15 villages of Ukhimathblock in Rudraprayag district.

In this study, emphasis hasbeen put on how to satisfy the foodenergy requirements of families in

the study area. For a typical family,this requirement is about 25 giga-joules per year. The research team'sanalysis of energy production perunit land shows that this averagefamily would require a minimum of0.7 ha of land to supply their foodneeds. Because current agricultural

landholdings in the area are closerto 0.28 ha, creative thinking isrequired in order to develop ways toincrease income (and food purchas-ing ability) of families. The team isinvestigating methods of supportinggrowing and marketing traditionalcrops as one means of improving the

Uttaranchal is an area of rich andunique biological and culturaldiversity. It is facing deep ecologicalcrisis and many of its social, eco-nomic and environmental valuesare in danger of being lost. In theGarhwal Himalayas, over 40 cropspecies and numerous varieties aregrown, a diversity which has beenmaintained through diverse crop-ping patterns and which hasevolved in the context of wide varia-tion is edaphic, topographic andclimatic conditions, coupled withcareful selection by farmers. The subsistence style of agricultureassociated with an environmentallysustainable lifestyle has been sup-planted by a form of modern devel-opment that is inconsistent with theunique features of this specialregion. The result has been degra-

dation in the quality of nativeforests, ground and surface waters,and soil erosion, with reduced abili-ty to support productive agricultureand, as a consequence, increasingpoverty and economic hardship forthe local population.

A central feature of the degrada-tion of multiple ecological functionsis a loss of natural and crop biodi-versity in this fragile Himalayanecosystem. The erosion in agro-biodiversity in the hills is associatedwith a number of factors includingdegradation of natural forests,which sustained traditional agricul-ture; changing attitudes towardscoarse and fine grains, the latterbeing considered more 'progressive'to produce and consume; large-scale migration for employment,causing fields to be abandoned orneglected; supply of HYV (highyielding variety) seeds and otherinputs at subsidized cost by thegovernment; attraction to maximizeprofits through cash crop monocul-tures, and lack of incentives tomarket traditional crops. In the Garhwal Himalayas, forinstance, data for 1970-74 and1990-94 show that yields of mosttraditional food crops remained sta-ble, and that the recent food inse-curity or shortage problem is largelydue to the decline of these crops.For the country as a whole, theincreasing reliance on a narrowgenetic range of crops represents ahigh-risk proposition. This results inan increasing dependence of thefarmer on the industry-dominatedmarket and the government.Virtually all inputs for farming,except land and family labor, arenow obtained from outside the vil-lage: seeds, irrigation, fertilizers,pesticides and credit. Despite hugesubsidies on these inputs, alongwith support prices and the like, anincreasing number of farmers arefacing the economic treadmill,spending more and more toachieve the same output.

H I M A L A Y A N L O S SA

gri

cult

ura

l en

erg

y (k

J)

Agricultural land (ha)

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

3.00E+07

2.50E+07

2.00E+07

1.50E+07

1.00E+07

5.00E+06

0.00E+00

y = 3.33+07x

R2 = 7.03E-01

E N E R G Y P R O D U C T I O N P E R U N I T L A N D - T A R I K H E T

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economic status of farmers inUttaranchal, and at the same timeencouraging the maintenance ofagro-biodiversity.

Several meetings have beenheld with district authorities, division-al forest officers, experts from theKumaon and Garhwal regions andsenior government officers, localfarmers, elected representatives oflocal village bodies, and staff ofrespective block development offices.

For the corresponding work inSouth India, the team carried out apreliminary study of issues related tobiodiversity in various sectors ofTamil Nadu. After considerable dis-cussion and investigation, four ham-lets in the Karandaimalai andPerumali Hills in Dindigul District

and the Devanur Nadu (cluster of 11villages) in the Kolli Hills ofNamakkal District were chosen fordetailed study on the basis of proxim-ity to access point, the presence of avariety of agricultural practices, pos-sible influences on biodiversity bythe presence of commercial cropsand the presence of NGOs workingin these areas.

Considerable emphasis hasbeen put on informal discussionswith the local communities where

work is underway.These are seen asessential prior to moreformal collection ofspecific data.Subsequently, a moreformal survey was car-ried out in 200 house-holds. Detailed dataon biodiversity inforests and on cultivat-ed lands, agriculturalland use and manage-

ment practices, subsidiary liveli-hood activities and social conditionsrelated to agriculture have been col-lected. A checklist of plants number-ing about 200 species has been pre-pared. Cultivation details for 11crops has been collected.

CONCLUSION

The research findings willassist policymakers in addressingthe problems they face, especiallywith regard to unsustainable man-agement of natural resources suchas local agro-biodiversity, soil andwater. Officials from the environ-ment, agricultural, forestry and hor-ticultural departments haveexpressed interest in the study andare eager to know about workablestrategies in each state.

The field case studies providea wide breadth of information,much of which is intended to give abackground understanding of theagricultural practices and rurallifestyles in each study area. This hasbeen done not only to place theissue of biodiversity within this set-ting but also to seek interconnec-tions between these issues and agro-biodiversity and develop futureresearch questions. ■

The study areas in South India,where the varieties of crops andassociated agricultural systemsare unique to each area, face anincreasing loss of agro-biodiver-sity. The study areas in TamilNadu include two sites inDindigul district and one site inNamakkal district. Both are hillyareas. Tamil Nadu, while beingone of the states in India at theforefront of agricultural produc-tivity, is facing major problems ofwater shortage as well as pres-

sure on agricultural land due topopulation pressures and rapidurbanization. It has also beenvery slow in taking up the princi-ples and practice of PanchayatiRaj (local self government). Similar to the situation inUttaranchal, here too reasons forerosion of biodiversity in dry landareas is due to reduced depend-ence on, or usability of, localbiodiversity; breakdown of inte-grated farming systems andresource use systems; marginal-ization of local communities andknowledge systems, and changeddemographic, institutional andtechnological context undermin-ing the feasibility of farmer's.

S O U T H E R N W O E S

Written by Soma Basu. Edited & Produced by Soumya Sarkar. Design by RupakGoswami. Co-ordination by Janet Knowles & Anuradha Chatterji. Published by Shastri

Indo-Canadian Institute, 5 Bhai Vir singh Marg, New Delhi 110 001, India.

For details contact:Gary W VanLoon, Department Of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston,

Ontario K7L3N6, Canada. Email: vanloon@chem.queensu.caMohammad Rais, NISTADS, K S Krishnan Marg, Pusa Gate, New Delhi 110 012,

India. Email: rais@nistads.res.inD Narsimhan, Centre for Plants, People and Ecosystems, 5 Santhana Lakshmi Street,

Rajeswari NagarSelaiyur, Chennai 600 073, India. Email: narasimhand@usa.net

Hand pounding millets in Karandai

Carying produce from theforest in Karandai

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