Asian Journal of Current Research

Mountain areas support approximately 13% of the world's population and harbour extraordinary agrobiodiversity, with traditional farming systems that have evolved over millennia in response to steep terrain, variable climate, and fragile soils. Across the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, the Andes, the European Alps, and montane regions of sub-Saharan Africa, growing market integration and deliberate commercialisation policies are restructuring these farming systems in ways that simultaneously generate short-term livelihood gains and erode the ecological and cultural foundations upon which long-term agricultural resilience depends. This article offers a critical review of the literature on the commercialisation of traditional mountain agriculture, examining its implications for ecological sustainability, rural livelihoods, and agroecological resilience. Drawing on peer-reviewed research and authoritative institutional assessments published predominantly between January 2015 and February 2026, the review traces the principal drivers of commercialisation, assesses sustainability trade-offs including agrobiodiversity loss, soil degradation, and heightened climate vulnerability, and evaluates livelihood outcomes with particular attention to food security, income diversification, and gender equity. The review further analyses the threats to agroecological resilience embedded in the transition towards market-oriented agriculture and identifies evidence-based pathways for achieving more equitable and sustainable outcomes. The analysis reveals that commercialisation trajectories remain deeply contested: they can open routes to improved household incomes while simultaneously diminishing the adaptive capacity that makes mountain farming systems distinctive and irreplaceable. The article concludes by articulating policy principles for governing the commercialisation transition in ways that preserve both ecological integrity and the cultural knowledge systems embedded in traditional mountain agriculture.