High-Value Plants

Book excerpt: High-value crops are non-staple plants that give much higher return per unit area than staple crops. Diversification and investing towards high-value crops can potentially increase farm incomes, making them more attractive to new and small-scale agricultural farmers. This new volume explores the biotechnological applications for the unique high-value crops in response to the impending high-value agriculture revolution. The book discusses traditional knowledge, nutritional value, phytochemical activity, value addition quality, and postharvest management of some select unique high-value crops, including black ginger, bastard oleaster, Swertia chirayita, Garcinia, Parkia timoriana (or tree bean), king chili, Chenopodium (or goosefoot), sea buckthorn, broom grass, lichens, and others. High-Value Plants: Novel Insights and Biotechnological Advances provides important information for small-scale farmers and agricultural and horticultural professionals to consider diversifying into non-traditional, high-value, agricultural crops, an important area of potential income growth in rural areas.