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Accepted Paper:
Situating today’s minor food crops in local, cultural, ecological, and historical context; a case-study from the middle Nile valley
Philippa Ryan
(Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
Paper short abstract:
Traditional and orphan crops are a vital buffer against environmental change. Fieldwork in the Sukoot region of Nubia showed currently minor cereals and pulses were previously major crops. These changes relate to new introductions, as well as to shifts in cultivation, processing and food practices.
Paper long abstract:
Agricultural practices have been rapidly changing in northern Sudan, mirroring global trends. This paper discusses changes within local cropping patterns and food systems in recent decades in Nubia, and perspectives from the recent and ancient past on the long-term cultivation and previous importance of several of today’s minor food crops. Whilst several of these minor crops have less market value, they are more low-input and heat tolerant than the current commercial crops. Much of the information about crops changes since the mid-20th century, and about beneficial traits, cultivation and processing was in the memories of elderly farmers and can now be considered endangered knowledge.