Commodity crops vs. orphan crops – why both?
Commodity crops are generally large-scale crops that are grown for consumption beyond subsistence farming needs. These crops (wheat, rice, maize and bananas are some) have largely been the focus of research efforts because of their wide global importance and distribution. In contrast, many “orphan crops” (such as millet) are important to a significant number of the resource poor, but have been largely neglected by the research community. In addition to their importance in developing countries, many of the orphan crops have desirable traits that could be useful in other orphan crops and the commodity crops. By investigating both groups of crops, the GCP explores a wide range of possibilities for identifying and utilising important traits, such as drought tolerance, for use in crop improvement programmes.
