Traditional Land and Food Systems: Abstract # 54 Traditional Land and Food Systems: A Case of Uttarakhand State in North-western Indian Himalayas I.S. Bisht, P.S. Mehta, S.K. Verma and K.S. Negi ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Regional Station, Bhowali (Uttarakhand), India

Farming situations in Uttarakhand state Agriculture built upon local resources Small-holder farms - robust with built-in resilience Small-scale agriculture biodiverse, sustainable and socially just Self-contained indigenous food systems

Crop-livestock mixed farming systems Farming situations #1 Crop-livestock mixed farming systems (70% ) #2 Nomadic pastoralists (10%) #3 River valleys (10%)

Production and consumption pattern of food groups in HHs of different farming habitats Household characteristics Site #1 #2 #3 Production diversity 32.06 28.70 14.20 Food crop production diversity 27.78 19.70 13.30 Food variety score 22.13 18.50 9.30 Dietary diversity score 6.43 5.60 4.30 Dietary diversity score of healthy food 5.49 4.50 2.40 Dietary diversity of wild harvested food 31.24 25.50 7.50

Comparison of some health indicators of HHs of three different farming sites (last two decades) #1 #2 #3 Uttarakhand state Infant mortality rate - 43/1000 Maternal mortality rate 292/100000 Malnutrition among children 2% 10% 40-50% Malnutrition among women 3% 4% 12% Obesity among adults 5% 14% Data not available Coexistence of obesity and malnutrition 8% Non-communicable diseases Hypertension Diabetes 1% 7% 5.7%

Facts about nutrition transition Is nutrition trend reversible ? Shift in dietary pattern Reduced access to indigenous food resources Degrading biodiversity in CPRs Easy availability of wheat and rice through PDS Problem of under-nutrition and obesity co-exist Socio-economic disparities and increased access to energy-dense foods creating "obesogenic" environment Malnutrition not result of food scarcity but foods poor in essential nutrients Is nutrition trend reversible ?

Major constraints in mainstreaming of traditional food resources in daily diets of farmer HHs Very poor knowledge base on traditional food resources Lack of or low appreciation of local communities IK and building on such knowledge Lack of market access for traditional food resources Dearth of credible information on nutrition and health attributes of a large number of food resources Economic viability/ market competitiveness of local food resources

Conclusions and ways forward Traditional food resources be made frontline strategies for nutrition interventions Revitalization of traditional food systems an imperative starting point Re-assess existing food and nutrition-related health and agriculture policy, and develop cross-sectoral implementation strategies on Food security, Nutrition and Health Continuous policy advocacy activities to educate functionaries across different sectors Developing food composition database - vital for effective advocacy tools and critical for cross-sectoral policy and programme development

Interactive meets, FGD and advocacy campaigns Local food resources in school feeding programmes

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