Buckwheat (Bro) on the verge of extinction in Kargil-Ladakh

Unexplored, most important crop of Kargil-Ladakh on the verge of extinction.

Fagopyrum  esculentum commonly known  as  buckwheat  which  possess  a triangular seeds . The name buckwheat  comes from  its triangular shape seeds, which resemble much larger seeds of a beech nut from the beech tree. The word may be a translation of  Middle Dutch boekweit ;  boec  (Modern Dutch buck) “beech (see PIE bhago) and weite (Modern Dutch weit) , wheat, or may be a native formation of the same model as the Dutch word.
It was first cultivated in the inland Southeast Asia, probably around 6000 BCE and is believed to be spread from there to the Europe and Middle east. Fagopyrum  esculentum ssp. Ancestral, F. homotropic is interfertile with Fagopyrum esculentum and the wild form have common distribution in Yunnan, a southwestern province of China.

Classification:
Kingdom           :           Plantae
Order               :            Caryophyllales
Family              :           Polygonaceae
Genus              :          Fagopyrum
Species           :          Fagopyrum esculentum
Nonetheless Fagopyrum is grown in most countries. In India it’s cultivated in Arunachal Pradesh in the east, In the north it’s grown in the high Himalayas in Kargil district of  the Union Territory of Ladakh. In southern India it is intermittently grown in the Nilgiris and palani hills. The crop is typically adapted to the soils containing moisture. The fact that is associated to this crop is, it is particularly best suited to less fertile, badly tilled land, which can produce barely anything. Although it is a short duration crop( 2-3 months), but in case of Kargil-Ladakh it takes  three to four months to get prepared. In Kargil it is locally known as Bro.

F. esculentum is believed to be green manure crop. Accordingly, next year the field which was under buckwheat in the preceding year doesn’t require manure whereas to grow different crop. Besides the crop is useful to check soil erosion. It helps in binding the uppermost fertile soil. As we have mentioned before that the crop is believed to be manure crop, hence it enhances phosphorus and micronutrients availability in the root zone for the following cash crop in a rotation. Because it mature quickly, buckwheat can be grown as a late-season crop (which is termed as chut in purgi. Though the plant does not belongs to the family Poaceae, but somehow resembles with cereal grain therefore it is also called pseudocereal .The fruit is an achene with a single seed inside a hard outer husk, which is dark brown or black in colour. Owing to the green or tan colour of coat makes the buckwheat flour slightly darken. The seed contain a floury endosperm.

It is also well known in having rich nutrition and minerals. Crude protein content is 18% with biological values above 90% containing a high concentration of all essential amino acids, especially lysine, threonine, tryptophan and the sulphur-containing amino acids. Moreover it is rich in iron (10-20 ppm ) and tannin vegetable. The residues are used to feed cattle as fodder. It is third main crop in the upper region of Kargil-Ladakh grown in bulk followed by wheat and barley.  It is also cultivated a second round crop (chut). In purgi the crop is locally known by various names viz. bro, dyat, farfar etc. as it  varies from village to village.
Generally two varieties of buckwheats (bro) are grown in Kargil-Ladakh : 1) Yellow-coloured, small-sized brosuk purgi and 2) black-coloured, large-sized gymrus (piurg). Since buckwheat was one of the staple foods of Ladakhi people. But, now its consumption is gradually declining due to the modern food styles.  Popular food items prepared from buckwheat(Bro) in Kargil-Ladakh is kaiser or gizri, which is similar to plain dosa. It is served as an essential part of food because of its rich nutritional value.Nowdays, its cultivation as well as consumption have reduced drastically.This may be attributed to its high sensitivity to climate, changing food habits, increasing demand of land for fodder and wheat, and growing competition with newer crops in the region like French beans, turnip and green peas as the second crop. Very low temperature reduces germination, favours male sterility and reduced seed set. Also, the plants are so tender that a single night's frost can destroy the whole crop. Moreover, the area under buckwheat has decreased, which requires more time to mature than barley, thus destroying the traditional practice of barley-buckwheat combination in the double-cropped areas. Keeping in view the nutritional quality of its grain and early maturity and suitability of the crop for marginal and degraded lands, there is a need to revive its cultivation in Ladakh.

                                                          ~S. Ali Nissari