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Market demands for exotic produce should not replace local fruit tree diversity
In Conversation with Muhabbat Turdieva
Muhabbat Turdieva at CBD. Photo: Bioversity/K. Brown
Muhabbat Turdieva, Central Asia Project Coordinator, Bioversity International, based in our Uzbekistan office, was part of our delegation at the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in India. She speaks about her work on wild fruits and forest systems in Central Asia.
Q: What do you do at Bioversity International?
A: I study the wild fruits and fruit tree species that form part of forest systems in Central Asia. There are around 800 traditional tree species growing in Central Asia, more than 100 of these fruit species. Yet some are neglected and underutilized, falling outside the mainstream of agricultural research and development, even though these crop wild relatives may have important characteristics that are important for breeding, such as increased resistance to pests and diseases, to drought and frost.
Q: What does tree diversity mean to smallholder farmers and farming communities in Central Asia?
A: Smallholder farmers typically work in marginal areas where water resources are lacking and soil fertility is low. Tree diversity helps ensure that their production systems function, even with the environmental challenges they face today such as climate change. For example, late spring frost that damages fruit tree flowers and lack of water for irrigation require drought-resistant, frost-resistant and heat-resistant varieties of tree.
Moreover, fruit trees are multi-purpose resources. They are important as a food source and have a high content of micro-elements, for example zinc, and are also used for fabric dyes and for medicinal purposes - the bark of a pomegranate plant is used to treat tapeworms, the skin of pomegranate fruit for diarrhoea and the fruit itself to treat anaemia. The trees also mitigate soil erosion, especially in mountain areas.
Mountainous landscape in Uzbekistan. Photo: Bioversity/D. Hunter
Q: With so many valuable properties, why are these trees under threat?
A: Urban communities consume what is available in their local markets and shops and has lower prices. Cheap fruits are imported from China and Iran to the local markets in the region. Farmers respond to this demand by cultivating and growing the most popular tree species and high-yielding commercial varieties although they are of low quality.
While promoting exotic fruit and vegetables is good, because it promotes diversity, it should not completely replace local produce. Farmers’ families here understand the value of the fruit trees in their home gardens, but do not sell it in the market because often the poor appearance of these fruits does not encourage demand for them at the markets.
Q: What projects are you involved in at Bioversity International?
A: We have a number of projects in Central Asia – including working with the Global Crop Diversity Trust and national partners in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on regenerating, collecting and sending samples of local cereal crops as sorghum, barley, wheat to Svalbard gene bank. Also, together with The Christensen Fund we have studied the links between cultural and agricultural diversity, to understand why farmers maintain this diversity of fruit trees. We identified custodian farmers of diversity and tried to raise recognition of these farmers amongst the community and national levels. This was The Christensen Fund’s very first agricultural biodiversity project and we are really happy now to see national partners develop and get support from them on various national projects related to fruit tree conservation.
Q: Based on what you have heard this week at COP 11 - what do you think should be the next steps for policymakers and others working toward the CBD goals?
A: Biodiversity is a global responsibility, involving all actors and agencies. Very often we see little or no dialogue between Environment and Agricultural Ministers. We need to bring these people together to create national strategies on the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity. Agricultural biodiversity targets within national action plans require more attention and dialogue between agencies, and the CBD Secretariat should be involved in helping governments develop stronger, more effective plans.
Q: And, what key message are you taking away from COP11?
A: The key theme emerging from the side events I attended at COP11 was a call for greater collaboration and coordination between different projects, initiatives and research centres. Without such collaboration and coordination, it is really difficult to ensure effectiveness and sustainability.
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For more Bioversity International reports from the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, click here.
By guest blogger Kara Brown.
 | Bioversity International is a member of the CGIAR consortium |
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This work by Bioversity International is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. |
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