What is agricultural biodiversity?
The taste, texture and diversity of the food we eat, as well as its nutritional qualities, depend on the genes of the plants and animals from which it comes. These plants and animals grow, thrive, resist pest and diseases and live in symbiosis with surrounding species. Collectively they comprise what we call agricultural biodiversity and are a vital part of what is termed ‘biodiversity’ – the variability among living organisms on the Earth. This agricultural biodiversity is the product of the application of the knowledge and skills used by women and men to develop agriculture, livestock production and aquaculture. Agricultural biodiversity is thus both a product of agriculture and an essential component of ecosystems and their sustainability. Although some 7,000 species of plants and many hundreds of animal species and thousands of aquatic plants are edible, human societies have focused on a few to feed themselves. Only about 100 crops, a handful of grasses and a dozen animal species a
