The worsening global crisis threatens to perpetuate food insecurity that would result in widespread poverty worldwide becomes particularly severe for communities that reside in isolated, and inaccessible remote areas which are not only harsh climates but difficult, and often inaccessible, making the mountain people more vulnerable to food accessibility (Khalid and Kaushik, 2008). Naked barley (Ladakhi: nas, Urdu: grim) is traditionally a staple crop of the Ladakh region and Although its growing times vary considerably with the altitude but is being cultivated at Korzok, on the Tso-moriri Lake, at 4,600 m (15,100 ft), which has what are widely considered to be the highest fields in the world (Rizvi, 1996). Around 10,000 years BC, the natural biological diversity played an important role in finding out the food for people and further started domestication of identified crops and animals and over the centuries, agricultural technology developed a broad spectrum of options for food, feed, and fiber production. (Wieczorek and Wright, 2012). The origin, evolution, and distribution of cultivated barley provide powerful insights into the historic origin and early spread of agrarian culture (Wang et al, 2015). Wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch, is the progenitor of cultivated barley, Hordeum vulgare L. As one of the earliest domesticated crops, barley has been one of the most important staple crops in old world Neolithic agriculture upon which early agriculture was built (Harlan and Zohary, 1966; Zohary and Hopf, 2000). The domestication of food is fundamental to understanding the origin and early diffusion of agrarian culture (Morrell and Clegg, 2007).  

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the founder crops of Old World agriculture. Archaeological remains of barley grains found at various sites in the Fertile Crescent (Zohary and Hopf 1993; Diamond 1998) indicate that the crop was domesticated about 8000 B.C. (B.C. 5 calibrated dates and b.c. 5 uncalibrated dates, where calibration refers to normalization of radiocarbon age estimates based on trees’ growth rings; Nesbitt and Samuel 1996). 

The domestication of plants was one of the most important innovations that allowed the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to settled agriculture (Meyer et al. 2012; Purugganan and Fuller 2009). In Ladakh, barley has been the major, most valuable crop and lifeline of Ladakhi people as most of the food items are derived from this important staple crop. And also many health benefits of barley have been recognised for decades (Anonymous, 2022).  In Ladakh the traditional diet of barley and wheat has been the base of the nutritional system for centuries (Pelliciardi, 2013). It is said that Barley is as old as human civilisation. Some experts suggest that its history dates back 8000 years. Moreover, many tales are attached to the barley crop. Indian agriculture has a big historical record begins with the Indus Valley civilization. From the present mirror, it seems that Indian agriculture has crossed many phases of development as per the requirement since 9000 BCE. Experts do not agree on one but the earliest samples of Barley have been found from three sites. The first is Fertile Crescent, which includes Israel, Syria, Jordan, and Turkmenistan, the second site is the Middle East Center and South East Asia This proves that for thousands of years, barley has been used as a staple diet. 

As observed in Ladakh ecosystems, this crop is being cultivated for consumption since the time agriculture started. Its old races have been collected by ICAR-NBPGR. This crop has long been used for manufacturing wine and many other forms of braveries since ancient times. There is evidence supporting the idea. As per experts, in some 2800 BC, barely was used in Babylonia, Mesopotamia, to manufacture wine. Many of the teams have identified and collected many old races lines from Ladakh sphere to keep them as record and preserved with ICAR-NBPGR and ICAR-IIWBR. The following facts and records witness the presence of old races of barley in Western Himalayan region: 

1.    Wheat, barley and jujube were domesticated in the Indian subcontinent by 9000 BCE (2);
2.    Barley and wheat cultivation—along with the domestication of cattle, primarily sheep and goat—was visible in Mehrgarh by 8000- 6000 BCE; Facts indicated that in the Indian subcontinent, two early stages of agricultural development in South Asia. In the earlier stage, dating roughly from 9500 to 7500 BP, agriculture was being established in the north-western most part of the subcontinent. At the ancient site of Mehrgarh Civilization, where the earliest evidence has been found that barley was the dominant crop and was apparently supplemented with some wheat. The barley found was the well-developed domesticate, six-row barley. A small amount of wild barley and two-row domesticated barley have also been recovered, although archaeologists do not think that barley was independently domesticated in this region. However, the early barley and wheat in Mehrgarh have predominantly small spherical grains, indicating that varieties adapted to local conditions were developed there. 
3.    Agro-pastoralism in India included threshing, planting crops in rows— either of two or of six—and storing grain in granaries. By the 5th millennium BCE agricultural communities became widespread in Kashmir.
4.    Remains of barley (Hordeum vulgare) grains found at archaeological sites in the Fertile Crescent indicate that about 10,000 years ago the crop was domesticated there from its wild relative Hordeum spontaneum (Badr et al, 2000);
5.    Similar marginal habitats have been more recently colonized by H. spontaneum in the Aegean region, southeastern Iran, and central Asia, including Afghanistan and the Himalayan region (Zohary and Hopf 1993).
6.    Badr et al, 2000 further states that the study of the geographic distribution of Bkn-3 alleles was based on 304 of the 317 wild accessions analyzed by AFLP fingerprinting and placed at least to a country. In addition, 5 accessions collected from natural stands in Himalayan region corresponding to the wild barley H. agriocrithon were analyzed, along with an additional 11 H. spontaneum lines, all from Israel. The H. vulgare lines included the 57 mentioned above, to which another 17 were added. Of these 74 lines, 21 were landraces from the Himalayan-Indian region.
7.    It was concluded that the 317 H. spontaneum accessions selected for molecular fingerprinting did not show evident signs of genetic introgression from H. vulgare. The only exceptions were the four H. spontaneum lines sampled from natural stands in the Himalayan region (group 12): although most of their morphological traits fell within the range of those typical for wild groups, they had ears that virtually lacked awns. 
8.    Traces of Barley cultivation have also been found in post-Neolithic Bronze Age Harappan civilization 5700–3300 years before present (3). 
9.    Wang et al, (2015) mentioned that high levels of nucleotide diversity, haplotype diversity, and number of haplotypes were detected in the Tibetan and Southwest Asian wild barley populations and the haplotype analysis showed that the worldwide cultivars shared the same haplotypes with the Southwest Asia wild barley, and specially, the wild barley from the Tibet. They also mentioned that a close relationship between worldwide domesticated barley and the Tibetan wild barley, suggesting that Tibetan wild barley is one of the ancestors of domesticated barley. Their results corroborated previous findings that cultivated barley are not only derived from wild-barley genotypes in the Fertile Crescent, but also from those in Tibet of China (Dai et al., 2014).
10.    The Israel-Jordan area in the southern part of the Fertile Crescent has the highest probability of being the geographical area within which wild barley was domesticated. Wild populations found in the southern part of the Fertile Crescent in western Iran have also contributed germplasm to the cultivated barley on its way to the Himalayas.
11.    Gangal et.al. (2014) adds that there are several lines of evidence that support the idea of connection between the Neolithic in the Near East and in the Indian subcontinent. The prehistoric site of Mehrgarh in Baluchistan (modern Pakistan) is the earliest Neolithic site in the north-west Indian subcontinent, dated as early as 8500 BCE.[16] Neolithic domesticated crops in Mehrgarh include more than 90% barley and a small amount of wheat. There is good evidence for the local domestication of barley and the zebu cattle at Mehrgarh. It was also recorded that barley and wheat cultivation along with the rearing of cattle, sheep and goat was visible in Mehrgarh by 8000-6000 BCE.

Looking to the legacy of Ladakh region with regard to the repository of Himalayan biodiversity particularly barley, over the period of one decade, there has been a significant decline in the area under Grim (naked barley), wheat and barley, while there has been a significant increase in land under fodder crop (Alfalfa), fruits and vegetables and other millets and pulses in Leh district (Dolkar, 2018). The district population has also increased by 44% in twenty years (LAHDC 2012), partly due to rural-urban migration. As cash-poor farmers are traditionally working with a barter-exchange economy, now depend on access to the urban monetary market. It may be attributed and observed that Leh-Ladakh has been opened to tourism in 1974, creating thousands of jobs and with the start of tourism in Leh and hike in labour charges and more anthropogenic activities in Leh region, the interest of resource-poor farming community particularly the young workforce has shifted towards tourism and initiated fodder (alfalfa) cultivation as this Alfalfa does not require more attention and fetch more biomass as compared to crop cultivation. Crops are grown only for consumption purposes but fodder provides sufficient biomass for their livestock as well as if seeds are produced, that fetch sufficient return.   

Text of concern- Area declining in Ladakh

Historically, subsistence agriculture has been a major component of Ladakh region for both society as well as the economy. Pastoralists trade dairy, wool, and pashmina goat fibre. Arable farming, of barley and wheat, is tightly constrained to the summer months, between May and September (LAHDC 2011). This is a challenging factor that barley which is a life-line of Ladakh region, is on the edge of extinct due to perennial alfalfa and high-tourism when the economy is expanding. Its importance is limited to daily-food-habits including traditional drink- alcoholic beverage production from barley is a well-established process practiced in Ladakh since centuries and no social activity is complete without it.
Varieties

Traditionally grown barley varieties are tall and weak stemmed and generally lodge even under relatively low soil fertility conditions. Therefore, researches on varietal improvement have restructured the plant type to take full advantage of higher level of soil fertility and irrigation. Some of the newly evolved varieties and their characteristics are described below:

* All colours barleys are found in Ladakh region

Conclusions

•    There is an immediate need to ensure the awareness with regard to its origin of the barley crop at Ladakh, and rejuvenating the barley cultivation in Ladakh to resource poor farming community towards about the origin and increase in the area under barley/ crop diversification not only for consumption but the economy in Leh-Ladakh is expanding, the increased demand from increased population, an Army base and tourism (Pelliciardi 2010). 
•    Importance of well-established traditional alcoholic beverage- Chhang has its own importance as no social activity is complete without it in Ladakh since centuries. Since Ladakh has been awarded UT status and industries might establish for this traditional alcoholic beverage and its further expansion significantly. This crop is also popular in many food habits and products in and outside Ladakh region. 
•    In addition, the indigenous knowledge about local foods and traditional agricultural practices in mountain areas is eroding and agricultural diversity as well as productivity is declining, further increasing the vulnerability of mountain people.

The authors M.S. Raghuvanshi, Changchuk Lamo, Jigmat Stanzin, Stanzin Landol,  Anurag Saxena, Abhay Shirale and Hrittick Biswas.  You can mail your comment and feedback on Email: omsai.msr@gmail.com.