Traditional Agri/Horticultural Crops, Farming Practices and Conservation in the Himalayan Region

One of the earliest areas of agricultural civilization, the Himalayan region is a treasure trove of food and agricultural products, including rice, wheat, maize, pulses, oilseeds, fibres, and other crop species with significant economic potential. These native crops have a high nutritional content and are essential to the long-term nutritional security of the local population. Using their ancestors’ knowledge systems, indigenous people maintain the regional crop varieties and landraces, taking into consideration socio-cultural traditions related to seed selection, production, and dietary habits. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on traditional agricultural and horticultural crops, farming practices and conservation in the Himalayan region. In the region, farmers often opt for traditional cultivation practices from sowing to reaping. The impact of climate change leads to crop failure, pests, surface runoff, and disease to mitigate the consequences, multiple or mixed cropping system is highly helpful in this region. In order to maintain good crop health, farmers choose cost effective, eco-friendly measures. In addition, farmers are interested in raising animals and poultry for their financial growth. Organic farming promotes ecologically sound techniques that provide ecosystem services and improve biodiversity, soil health, and water quality in this region. Commercial/cash crops cultivation leads the changing the fate of hill economy and lifestyle. Landraces are currently only found in a few isolated rural and tribal areas, but even there, their numbers are declining due to inadequate protection. Conventional wisdom regarding the proper cultivation of plants and the preservation of seeds is also disappearing. In a co-evolutionary form, management expertise and knowledge associated with these traditional genetic resources are also safeguarded. It is crucial to identify, characterize, evaluate, document, and conserve.