Better demand could save indigenous fruits from being forgotten

- Indigenous fruits are disappearing from local landscapes and diets, driven by urbanisation, land-use change, changing food preferences and the growing cultivation of commercially profitable crops. - These fruits offer nutritional, medicinal and ecological benefits, while also preserving genetic diversity and traditional knowledge. - Creating demand can help conserve them, through value addition, better documentation, research and support for farmers and community growers, but commercialisation must remain community-centred and sustainable. During my summer break in my hometown in northeast India’s Assam this year, I found myself craving a favourite summertime fruit from my childhood: Leteku, or Burmese grape. A quick run to the local fruit market offered fruits of different kinds, including imported kiwis and avocados, but not the one I was looking for. I finally found it at a weekly haat, a makeshift market where locals from nearby villages gather to sell their produce. “The availability of indigenous, local fruits has definitely decreased over time,” says Dharindra Nath Hazarika, head of the horticulture department at B.N. College of Agriculture under Assam Agriculture University. “There is a lack of research and documentation on this subject, so we don’t know the exact magnitude of the decline.” This loss is not restricted to just one region. In the neighbouring state of Meghalaya, for instance, local communities say they are observing that local fruits that once grew abundantly in people’s homesteads are now less commonly seen. Pius Ranee, executive director of North East Society for Agroecology Support (NESFAS), agrees. “Many traditional fruits, vegetables, and edible plants once commonly found in homesteads and villages are becoming less common. Older generations often recall a greater diversity of food plants around homes, fields and forests than what is seen today. While systematic data are limited, observations from communities across Meghalaya suggest that many indigenous and semi-wild food species are disappearing from everyday diets and local landscapes,” he shares. Poniol is another fruit found most notably in Assam and a few other northeastern states. It is not commonly seen now. Then there is Thekera. Dried Thekera adds sourness to many Assamese dishes and is said to cure indigestion. Sohthang and Sohlong are indigenous fruits that were once commonly seen in Meghalaya but have now become rarer. Local, indigenous fruits that are not commercially grown are often termed “underutilised” because of their untapped potential to enhance food security, provide health benefits, generate income, and support environmental sustainability, according to a paper published last year. Such fruits are regarded as “protective foods” across India because of their rich medicinal properties, abundance of phytochemicals and essential minerals, according to the study. An earlier paper elaborates on the availability of micronutrients in indigenous fruits of arid and semi-arid regions. Pilu (Salvadora oleoides) and chironji (Buchanania lanzan) are rich sources of iron, while karonda (Carissa carandas), mahua (Madhuca indica) and khirni (Manilkara hexandra) are rich sources of vitamin A. Alethea Kordor Lyngdoh, Deputy Executive Director of NESFAS, says, “Indigenous crops often provide food during lean seasons and periods of scarcity, thus providing food security. They are also a rich source of antioxidants, minerals and vitamins.” What is causing the decline? There are several reasons behind the slow disappearance of local fruits from diets. Urbanisation, land-use change and a lack of awareness about the significance of these fruits, especially in the face of large-scale cultivation of commercial crops, are some of them. “Farmers are encouraged to grow market-oriented and often non-native crops such as strawberries, kiwi and other exotic fruits, which can offer better economic returns. As a result, many traditional indigenous fruit trees and local varieties that were once maintained in homesteads and mixed farming systems are receiving less attention and are gradually disappearing from the landscape,” Pius Ranee says. Many local fruits are highly seasonal, have uneven shapes or ripening patterns, bruise easily, cannot withstand long-distance transport, or are available in volumes too small and unpredictable for conventional retail. Market structures, on the other hand, reward consistency. “This does not mean that commercial horticulture is the inherent enemy,” says chef Thomas Zacharias, founder of The Locavore, a platform that champions local food through storytelling, events, advocacy and partnerships. “Farmers need crops that give them reliable returns, and commercial cultivation can sometimes rescue an overlooked fruit by creating demand and improving propagation. The problem arises when incentives encourage landscapes to become less diverse, or when only a few profitable species and varieties receive research, nursery, extension, procurement and marketing support.” From his experience travelling across the country, tracing indigenous food and cooking, Zacharias says he feels that there is a knowledge gap when it comes to local produce. “If people no longer know a fruit’s name, season, taste or uses, demand naturally weakens. And heavily marketed foods acquire greater social value,” he says. This is both a challenge and a way out. In Meghalaya, Richard Ranee, a community member, points out that he grows local fruits and medicinal plants and tries to tell as many people in his family and village about their significance. “I am also a traditional healer, so I tell my people about the importance of conserving local biodiversity,” he says. Similarly, Hazarika has been planting seeds and saplings of local varieties of fruits and herbs from Assam in the botanical garden on his college campus. “Some of these minor fruits have medicinal value and are an inexpensive source of vitamins and minerals. But there is a lack of awareness. People are letting go of their homesteads and home gardens and cutting down these trees without realising their importance,” he says. Home gardens have also been found to maintain environmental equilibrium, sustaining not just rich biodiversity but also good soil carbon stocks. Apart from nutritional security and medicinal value, conserving local produce is also important for saving genetic diversity. In Africa, there are over 800 species of fruits. However, only three or four of these varieties can be found in the market, risking nutritional diversity. “Farmers may see little incentive to intentionally grow indigenous fruits as a crop, because the trees are perceived as taking years to mature,” the paper says. This may be true in the wild, but not always when trees are cultivated, and “especially when domesticated by horticultural techniques such as rooting cuttings and grafting,” according to the paper. The way forward Value addition of these fruits into processed products such as jams, jellies and pickles is one way to incentivise people to grow these fruit trees. In Africa, a local fruit, baobab, is now sold in the form of baobab powder in the European Union and the USA as a superfood. According to Chris Dohse, managing director of Tree Crops, a Malawi-based manufacturer of wild plant ingredients, the fruit was “rotting on the forest floor” until it found new life when demand grew for the powder form. Here in India, producer organisations are doing something similar with local fruits. Uttarakhand-based Himalayan Haat, for instance, offers a range of products, including preserves and coolers made from local, seasonal produce. Divya Chowfin, co-founder of this social enterprise, says, “Seasonal fruits and other produce are easily perishable, so value addition is key (in conserving and making them available to consumers). For example, hisar is a Himalayan raspberry which is found only for three weeks and is not cultivated. So we have introduced a limited edition of its preserve.” They also have malta cooler, rhododendron cooler and spiced peach preserve, and are now mulling over either a cooler or squash made from kafal, another local fruit. The risk here is of turning an everyday food product into something exotic that, ironically, locals are not able to afford. “Commodification can shift the control away from the local community, so it is crucial to ensure that the process is ethical, community-centred, and linked to sustainable harvesting and cultivation practices,” Pius Ranee says. Zacharias also stresses the need for documentation and crop-specific research, as well as support for farmers, forest-dependent communities, home gardeners and community orchards to maintain living trees, while also strengthening gene banks, nurseries, herbariums and germplasm collections. The decline of indigenous fruits is not simply a loss of food, but also a loss of knowledge, genetic diversity and local ecological resilience. Bringing these fruits back into diets will require greater awareness, better documentation and research, and markets that create value for both the produce and the communities that conserve it. Banner image: Kafal (Myrica esculenta) is a local seasonal berry found in the mid-Himalayan region. Image by Divya Chowfin.