Bioresources for Food and Nutrition Security – the case of Wild Edibles of Western Ghats.

TitleBioresources for Food and Nutrition Security – the case of Wild Edibles of Western Ghats.
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsRatheeshNarayanan M.K, AnilKumar N., Parameswaran P.
Book TitleBioresources and Bioprocess in Biotechnology
Volume1
Pagination73-98
PublisherSpringer
CitySingapore
KeywordsAgriculture, Agrobiodiversity, Agrobiodiversity; Gender; Agrobiodiversity, Gender, nutrition, Plants (botany), Wayanad, Western Ghats, Wild edibles
Abstract

Wild edibles (foods) are plant and animal resources outside the agricultural areas that are harvested for the purpose of human consumption. This chapter provides the diversity and trends in the use and management of wild edible species with reference to different sociocultural groups from the Wayanad District, in Kerala, part of the Western Ghats. Three hundred fifty-three species of seven major groups of wild foods that include leafy greens, tubers and roots, fruits and seeds, mushrooms, honey, crabs and fishes are discussed. The places where the wild edibles proliferate, the communities that come in search of these edibles, the colloquial terms that are commonly used to describe them and the gender roles that come into play during harvesting and processing of the wild foods have also been traced out. Tribal and rural families of the region continue to collect and conserve a wide range of plants to meet their diverse food needs, and women are more skilful in managing the surrounding landscape and are the chief knowledge holders and conservationists. It is also noted that the wild edibles have a critical role to play in dealing with the issue of undernutrition, and hence dynamic conservation of agrobiodiversity needs to be placed high in the national development agenda for leveraging nutrition in agriculture and alleviating poverty and malnutrition.

URLhttps://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-3573-9_4
DOI10.1007/978-981-10-3573-9_4
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