The theory behind preserving and protecting seeds at Svalbard and the banana species in Belgium and Montpellier sometimes seems a bit remote. The genetic material preserved in all these different species may be used to breed crops, trees, animals, which may be better able to withstand conditions which may occur in the future.
At times it all seems a little theoretical, even though we know that over the last 50 years, crops have become more uniform, and in the last five years, 60 breeds have been lost. Many breeds have not yet been identified and may be lost before anything is know about them.
However the meaning of it all is more immediate when we look at some of the traditional fruits, vegetables and condiments used in the world. For most of the world’s food crops, information about the nutritional properties of different varieties does not exist.
Photo from Flickr user ijnek29. Creative Commons licence.
- Korean black rice contains five times as much iron as white rice.
Photo from Lois Englberger, Bioversity. Creative Commons licence.
- The karat and other orange fleshed bananas contain 25 times more vitamin A pre-cursor than the standard variety.
- Turmeric, the dried roots shown above, is a spice often used in curries and has anti-glycemic properties that make it ideal for diabetics.
- Lutein, found in leafy green vegetables, such as the pumpkin leaves above, is known to provide significant protection against cataracts and other eye diseases.
Photo by Flickr user Zero-X. Creative Commons licence.
Photo from IPGRI, Bioversity. Creative Commons licence.
Efforts to use these traditional crops to fight malnutrition may have the added benefit of the same crops helping to counter the deficiencies of the modern "affluent" diet.
Will there be a demand for these fruits and vegetables I wonder. I do know that I try to eat my five portions a day and the thought that there could be even more benefit with a wider range of produce is really quite encouraging.
