IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v32y2024i5p4748-4757.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unveiling the hidden gems: Minor crops as catalysts for sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, and economic resilience

Author

Listed:
  • Konstadinos Mattas
  • Stefanos A. Nastis
  • Anastasios Michailidis
  • Efthimia Tsakiridou
  • Koutroubas Spyridon

Abstract

This paper highlights the significance of nurturing and safeguarding minor crops as a means of achieving regional sustainable development, preserving biodiversity, and ensuring food security. Minor crops play a critical role in addressing various environmental challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, and soil salinity. Simultaneously, they offer local farmers economic opportunities by providing income stability and resilience. To demonstrate the potential of minor crops in promoting sustainable development, a case study from Greece is presented, focusing on three crops: blackcurrant, rice, and sunflower, which bring substantial economic and environmental benefits to the region. The study assesses the economic and environmental impact of these crops across three different rural territories in Greece. Despite covering less than 4% of total agricultural land, these crops are predominantly grown in marginal, mountainous, and insular regions. By analyzing the farm‐level and broader economic effects, the study determines their potential for agricultural and regional development. The results indicate that these crops are more profitable and environmentally friendly compared to their counterparts in all three cases. Additionally, they make significant contributions to the regional economies relative to their cultivated land area, supporting economic growth while conserving and enhancing agricultural land. In conclusion, this article emphasizes the crucial need to promote the cultivation and preservation of minor crops to support sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, and regional economic growth. Policymakers and agricultural practitioners should prioritize the cultivation and preservation of regional minor crops to safeguard biodiversity at the regional level and at the same time sustainable regional development.

Suggested Citation

  • Konstadinos Mattas & Stefanos A. Nastis & Anastasios Michailidis & Efthimia Tsakiridou & Koutroubas Spyridon, 2024. "Unveiling the hidden gems: Minor crops as catalysts for sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, and economic resilience," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 4748-4757, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:32:y:2024:i:5:p:4748-4757
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.2930
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2930
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.2930?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mattas, Konstadinos & Tsakiridou, Efthimia & Michailidis, Anastasios & Tsiamparli, Elisavet, 2014. "Economic assessment of Pendimethalin herbicide use in selective crops (cotton, processing tomato & onion)," Working Papers 166116, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    2. Wiltrud Terlau & Darya Hirsch & Michael Blanke, 2019. "Smallholder farmers as a backbone for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 523-529, May.
    3. Kamil Maitah & Luboš Smutka & Jeta Sahatqija & Mansoor Maitah & Nguyen Phuong Anh, 2020. "Rice as a Determinant of Vietnamese Economic Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-12, June.
    4. Viccaro, Mauro & Caniani, Donatella & Masi, Salvatore & Romano, Severino & Cozzi, Mario, 2022. "Biofuels or not biofuels? The “Nexus Thinking” in land suitability analysis for energy crops," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 1050-1064.
    5. Aikaterini Gkoltsiou & Eleni Athanasiadou & Angeliki T. Paraskevopoulou, 2021. "Agricultural Heritage Landscapes of Greece: Three Case Studies and Strategic Steps towards Their Acknowledgement, Conservation and Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-28, May.
    6. Justas Streimikis & Tomas Baležentis, 2020. "Agricultural sustainability assessment framework integrating sustainable development goals and interlinked priorities of environmental, climate and agriculture policies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1702-1712, November.
    7. Birthal, Pratap S. & Roy, Devesh & Negi, Digvijay S., 2015. "Assessing the Impact of Crop Diversification on Farm Poverty in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 70-92.
    8. Mattas, Konstadinos & Loizou, Efstratios & Michailidis, Anastasios, 2018. "Assessing the competitiveness and viability of tobacco in Greece and the potentials for further expansion," Working Papers 305577, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    9. Cox, Michael & Payton, Frederick & Pimentel, Leoncio, 2019. "A gilded trap in Dominican rice farming," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 10-20.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Irina Solovieva & Pavlina Miteva-Bölter & Marija Knez & Ann-Kathrin Bessai & Eleonora Barilli & Nadja Kasperczyk & Marija Ranic & Mirjana Gurinovic & Pedro Jose Luna Casado & Nicolas Alba Morales & Ma, 2025. "Exploring the Potential and Challenges of Lathyrus sativus (Grass Pea) in European Agri-Food Value Chains: A Cross-Country Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-21, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yongxun Zhang & Aiping Zhang & Yijiao Ma, 2024. "An integrated mechanism and challenges of mountainous sustainable development: A review of Hani Terraces, China," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 101-118, February.
    2. Marije Schaafsma & Ilda Dreoni & Lacour Mody Ayompe & Benis N. Egoh & Dewa Putu Ekayana & Arilson Favareto & Sonny Mumbunan & Louise Nakagawa & Jonas Ngouhouo‐poufoun & Marieke Sassen & Thiago Kanashi, 2023. "Mapping social impacts of agricultural commodity trade onto the sustainable development goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 2363-2385, August.
    3. Idiano D'Adamo & Massimo Gastaldi & Ilhan Ozturk, 2023. "The sustainable development of mobility in the green transition: Renewable energy, local industrial chain, and battery recycling," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 840-852, April.
    4. Buisson, M.-C. & Balasubramanya, Soumya, 2019. "The effect of irrigation service delivery and training in agronomy on crop choice in Tajikistan," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 81:175-184..
    5. Roberto Cerchione, 2025. "Leveraging on supply chain‐oriented technology engine for green initiatives adoption," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 580-599, February.
    6. Verburg, René W. & Verberne, Emma & Negro, Simona O., 2022. "Accelerating the transition towards sustainable agriculture: The case of organic dairy farming in the Netherlands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Raymond B. Frempong & David Stadelmann, 2017. "Does Female Education have a Bargaining Effect on Household Welfare? Evidence from Ghana and Uganda," CREMA Working Paper Series 2017-08, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    8. Benedict Belobo Ateba & Prince Chuwuneme Enwereji, 2024. "The Resource Curse in the Gulf Region: Charting a Path for Long-term Economic Sustainability," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(5), pages 259-270, September.
    9. Yuan-Wei Du & Yi-Pin Fan, 2023. "Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Agricultural Sustainability Assessment: A Study across 30 Chinese Provinces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-23, June.
    10. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Popova, Olga, 2021. "Can bribery buy health? Evidence from post-communist countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 991-1007.
    11. Wang, Weiwen & Gong, Jian & Wang, Ying & Shen, Yang, 2021. "Exploring the effects of rural site conditions and household livelihood capitals on agricultural land transfers in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    12. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Nguyen, Loc Duc & Lippe, Rattiya Suddeephong & Grote, Ulrike, 2017. "Determinants of Farmers’ Land Use Decision-Making: Comparative Evidence From Thailand and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 199-213.
    13. Philip A. Loring, 2022. "Regenerative food systems and the conservation of change," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 701-713, June.
    14. Bilgili, Faik & Kocak, Emrah & Kuskaya, Sevda & Bulut, Umit, 2022. "Co-movements and causalities between ethanol production and corn prices in the USA: New evidence from wavelet transform analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    15. Marije Schaafsma & Ilda Dreoni & Lacour Mody Ayompe & Benis Egoh & Dewa Putu Ekayana & Arilson Favareto & Sonny Mumbunan & Louise Nakagawa & Jonas Ngouhouo‐poufoun & Marieke Sassen & Thiago Kanashiro , 2023. "A framework to understand the social impacts of agricultural trade," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 138-150, February.
    16. Xiaozhi Xiang & Li Peng & Yaxian Zhang, 2023. "Towards more sustainable diets: Insights from food production responses to diet transitions in China," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1951-1964, June.
    17. Pedro Gerber Machado & Arnaldo Walter & Michelle Cristina Picoli & Cristina Gerber João, 2017. "Potential impacts on local quality of life due to sugarcane expansion: a case study based on panel data analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 2069-2092, October.
    18. Eleni Zafeiriou & Spyridon Galatsidas & Garyfallos Arabatzis & Stavros Tsiantikoudis & Athanasios Batzios, 2023. "Environmental Degradation by Energy–Economic Growth Interlinkages in EU Agriculture," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-14, May.
    19. Enrico Pomatto & Marco Devecchi & Federica Larcher, 2022. "Assessment of the Terraced Landscapes’ Integrity: A GIS-Based Approach in a Potential GIAHS-FAO Site (Northwest Piedmont, Italy)," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-21, December.
    20. Krishna, V. & Vikraman, S. & Aravalath, L., 2018. "Caste-based social segregation and access to public extension services in India," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276944, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:32:y:2024:i:5:p:4748-4757. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.