The benefits of traditional Himalayan agriculture—a nearly forgotten variety of black peas outperforms cash crops

In the high altitude desert region of Trans-Himalayas, most people cultivate to earn a living. In the 1980s, they largely passed from the production of subsistence based on the commercial culture market, such as green peas (Pisum Sativum L.), they could sell to other states in India.

For their own communities and monasteries, however, some farmers still cultivate food with a 3000 -year inheritance in the region, including barley (Hordeum vulgare) and a local variety of black peas that lack a scientific name. Provided for nutrition and sustained energy, these black peas are an integral part of traditional recipes, such as soups and hot drinks.

In a new study published in Scientific advancesStanford researchers examined genetic diversity, ecological resilience and the food value of black peas for the first time.

“Black peas and barley are intimately linked to cultural, religious and social life in the Trans-Himalayan region. That they also reside in the climate is what makes them so exciting,” said the main study, Harman Jaggi, Ph.D.

“One of our results was what local farmers have known from the start – black peas are more ecologically resistant and have higher protein levels compared to the green pea introduced.”

Scientists generally agree that peas, cultivated for the first time about 10,000 years ago in the fertile crescent, have a domestic species and a wild species. But the new study, which provided the first data for sequencing the whole genome for black peas, suggests that they form distinct genetic clusters “, highlighting a complex cultural and environmental selection over thousands of years,” said Jaggi.

The research team examined if, compared to green peas, black peas were better suited to the local climate, especially since the region faces winter precipitation considerably reduced due to climate change.

In all sites with three different altitudes and with various water treatments, black peas have shown a higher probability of survival and more successful reproductive lines. This observation corroborated anecdotes of farmers, who said that black peas are easier and less with a high intensity of water to cultivate than green peas.

Researchers have also written a nutritional profile of black peas in collaboration with the Central Food Technological Research Institute in India. Compared to green peas, black peas are richer in protein, which makes 21% protein per 100 grams – and rich in minerals such as magnesium, calcium and iron. Peas are also an important source of fibers and vitamins C, B1 and B3.

Promise of black peas

Jaggi first visited the Spiti valley little populated in the Himachal Pradesh, India, in Trans-Himalayes years ago to study snow leopards, an important tourist print for the region. While climbing the rocky and rocky slopes above the line of trees, it noted the light black pea and the barley powder that its local hosts arise and offered with tea.

“This would support us for hours,” said Jaggi, who conducted research for the study with his advisor, Shripad Tuljapurkar, a biology professor at the Stanford School of Humanités and Sciences (H&S), and with the support of the Stanford Doerr School of Durability.

“Anecdotically, local populations would say that black peas are very nutritional and less vulnerable to the whims of climate change. But with our collaborator Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi of nature conservation Foundation, we noted that there was little science supporting these affirmations. We were motivated to fill this gap by designing a study from a multi-disciplinary perspective multiple. “

Jaggi returned to the distant valley and interviewed more than 300 residents about traditional agricultural practices, in particular, cultivating black peas – called Sanmoh Nako or Tibetan Dhoopchum.

While only 10% of the families with whom she spoke cultivated them, Jaggi learned that many others would like if there were interested buyers and the science behind the value of the harvest. Many of these farmers earn as little as $ 2,300 per year, according to data from the 2011 census.

After the 2022 interviews, Jaggi and his colleagues collaborated with three separate villages to set up study experiences on the field on farms for the growth season of 2023.

“Local farmers, who have knowledge generations, have given a crucial contribution to experience and co-wrote the newspaper,” said Jaggi. “Growth practices that could work for green peas, for example in the floodplanes of India, would not have worked for black peas in unfavorable climatic conditions and the cold and dry desert ecosystem of trans-Himalayas.”

Value and recognition

The authors of the study point out that black peas could be a precious genetic reservoir as a potential wild parent that could improve other crops, equipping them to resist the increase in heat and stress of drought.

They also recommend trans-Himalayan agricultural systems for recognition within national or global heritage systems (Niahs or Giah). The landscape has an exceptional cultural richness and biodiversity, including carnivores such as snow leopards, wolves and red foxes; Wild herbivores such as Asian IBEX and blue sheep; And many species of flower plants.

This United Nations Declaration could help protect the region’s environment and agricultural practices and stimulate a market for black peas.

“This requires more research on sub-studied and less known cultures as well as to integrate traditional agricultural practices,” said Jaggi. “I want these conclusions to return to farmers so that they can diversify their cultures and not undergo enormous losses by continuing to cultivate more green pea with high water intensity.”

The authors hope that future research will create a set of long -term data on black peas and that their integration of traditional ecological knowledge will inspire future scientific studies. There are many advantages of this approach to local food security and global conservation efforts, because climate change intensifies, they wrote in their study.

“This work is revolutionary in many ways,” said Tuljapurkar, professor of Dean and Virginia Morrison of Population Studies in H&S and the main study of the study.

“I think that our results are promising for the study population and also suggest many generalizations and extensions to other populations that are balanced between traditional and modern lifestyles.”