GREEN SCENE
Digest some facts about the world’s food diversity There are
50,000
edible plant species on earth, but less than
Three crops, wheat, rice and maize, make
The MENA region’s staple foods are:
Rice is a staple food for more than
up 60%
rye, wheat, lentils and barley.
1.6 billion
of humans’ food energy intake.
3%
are being used.
serts. Steps must be taken to provide evidence about the need for a balanced, varied diet. The answer lies with alternative, or less popular, crops, and also in promoting indigenous plants – in this case, those that can survive the parched desert. Crops for the Future hopes to impact, among others, the healthy fruit juice and smoothie industry. Consumers don’t have to look those rare, possibly strange-looking vegetables in the eye. They just have to slurp the nutrients out through a straw. Malaysia won the right to host the research organisation through an international bidding competition with 12 other countries. In 2008, Azam-Ali had moved to the University of Nottingham Malaysia campus as Vice-Provost. Crops for the Future was launched with a QR146 million ($40 million) investment from the Malaysian government and cooperation from the University of Nottingham in the UK. Both are guarantors, not owners. “It was established as a private company,” Azam-Ali says. “For us that’s enormously helpful, because establishing a company means you can actually do research on what you want to do and you can bring in any partners you want, because you don’t then have to just work with the government.” Cultivation in Qatar Private investment makes up a substantial portion of the business model. So, when turning to Qatar as a potential host for the centre’s “arid region” research facilities, Crops for the Future must find commercial enterprises willing to take a risk on alternative crops, in addition to cooperating with authorities. The crops suited for cultivation
in the Gulf could be sold as fish or livestock feed, biofuel or human food, depending on their characteristics. “We are looking at places where we wish to have international collaboration, to work as a centre that... is a global alliance with partners working on so-called under-utilised or alternative crops that haven’t had the research investment in them that the big crops have,” Azam-Ali says. He would not give examples of the “alternative crops” the organisation is seeking to market commercially. It’s hard to say, he admits, because Crops for the Future is still in its early stages. They don’t have much hard evidence yet. “That’s a double-edged sword,” he says. “Once you’ve promoted a certain food, and it doesn’t turn out to be as great as you said it would be, people get very disillusioned and disappointed. So we’re not really in the business of promoting particular plants. There’s no wonder crop out there.” Crops for the Future isn’t sold on the old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. It’s more about diversity than pinpointing a cure. However, according to the centre’s website, some underutilised plants include hanza, a Nigerian famine food; cherimoya, an acidic fruit commercially produced in Peru and Chile; and African cabbage, a highly nutritious vegetable that grows in hot, dry conditions. Health from diversity A diet based on a healthy assortment of affordable crops is like medicine – at the very least, preventive medicine – for those in danger of developing non-communicable dis-
people around the world, particularly in Asia, Latin America and parts of Africa.
eases like diabetes and high blood pressure. In short, Azam-Ali says, the human race can’t live on grains, grains and more grains. High in calories but low in health benefits, crops like rice and wheat can be mistaken as solutions to world hunger. But Crops for the Future knows better. Those who neglect nutrient-rich foods can become deficient in iron, zinc and selenium, which can have negative effects on children’s brain development, according to Azam-Ali and a 2011 study on iron deficiency published in Nutrition Reviews. Iron deficiency at an early age “not only affects brain and behavioural function during the period of iron deficiency, it persists long after treatment,” according to the study. So, the solution? Education, with research to back it up. Plans aren’t set in stone, but the centre will work to promote healthy eating. Azam-Ali mentions Qatar’s recent National Sport Day. It’s a good sign that the country is recognising the inactive lifestyles of its residents, he says. “But there also has to be a link with the fact that they don’t eat the right food. If they’re increasingly eating sugar and oil and calorie-rich foods, there’s going to be an epidemic of obesity. “It’s not for me to tell Qatar how to manage its food security,” he continues, and then pauses thoughtfully. “But I will. I’ll suggest that it should look at a wider range of ingredients that come in the supply chain. I think there’s an enormous potential there to commercialise or to build on the local cuisine that is indigenous to this part of the world.” If those ingredients can come from the native desert, all the better. But nothing is certain
MARCH 2013
Qatar Today 7 1