Mainstreaming Local Food Species for Nutritional and Livelihood Security: Insights From Traditional Food Systems of Adi Community of Arunachal Pradesh, India.

Ranjay K Singh,Arvind K Rai,Rakesh Bhardwaj,Anamika Singh,Sanjay Upadhyay,Anshuman Singh,Lobsang Wangchu,Temin Payum

doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.590978

Abstract

This study brings out the critical role of lesser-known local plant species in the food, nutrition and livelihood security of Adi community in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Considering women as a major custodian in knowledge and practices on foods, a total of 90 Adi women and 60 key knowledgeable community members (thus a total of 150 participants) were selected from East Siang and Upper Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Data were collected using combination of methods including recipe contest, focus group discussion, personal interviews and laboratory analyses. The results indicated that Adi women were able to identify 39 bioculturally important species from a range of locally available plant species. Used alone or with other foods, these plants remain central to the Adi people's cultural identity and livelihood security. In addition to improving food and nutritional security, these species accessed from different land use systems, are also sold on the local markets to generate decent incomes. Of the species identified by Adi women, 28 were culturally shared and used frequently in food and ethnomedicine. Laboratory analyses of the selected 22 species revealed exceptionally high levels of minerals and other nutrients, such as proteins and anti-oxidants, supporting their traditional use for health benefits. Our study results provide valuable insights to the researchers to explore the vast hidden potential of these and other similar species for improving nutritional well-being of local communities in marginal areas. Adequate policy support is needed to enable Adi and other such marginalized communities to cope with challenges being posed to traditional food systems.

Highlights

The social-ecological knowledge accumulated orally over generations has a great influence on traditional food systems and Indigenous biodiversity [1, 2]
Methods of Sampling and Nutritional Profiling of Selected Wild Vegetables Based on the frequency of use, perceived nutritional importance, their shared cultural knowledge [37] and the high scores in recipe contests, 22 local food plant species were selected for their nutritional profiling
Score “4” was assigned to the species accessed from both home gardens (HG) and Jhum lands (JL), while a score “5” to those harvested from both HG and JL

Summary

Introduction

The social-ecological knowledge accumulated orally over generations has a great influence on traditional food systems and Indigenous biodiversity [1, 2]. Mainstreaming of Traditional Foods of India social-ecological conditions [5] Such locally available foods represent an accessible and affordable means to nutritional security [6, 7]. As biochemical constituents of locally consumed foods mostly remain unexplored, local people employ the traditional knowledge to understand the health benefits of different species used as food [11]. Based on this knowledge, the local communities prioritize the conservation and management plans for local natural resources including agro-biodiversity [12]. Conservation and promotion of local food practices are critical to global efforts toward safeguarding the culturally important foods and associated knowledge [1, 15]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion