Boosting nutrition and climate resilience in sub-Saharan Africa with ‘forgotten foods’
A news item was recently released on Mongabay (26 July 2024), reporting on landmark research led by scientists from the World Vegetable Center.
This report explains a 2023 study was recently awarded the Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for its work identifying ‘forgotten’ food crops in sub-Saharan Africa that may be more resilient to climate change than the region’s current staple crops of maize, rice, cassava and yams. The study found that West Africa and Central Africa would experience the largest decrease in suitability for current staple crops by 2070, and that maize was the most vulnerable of the staples. In addition to identifying 52 food crops that will likely be better-suited to the region’s future climate, and which have more nutritional value than staple crops — these researchers have already succeeded in introducing some of the overlooked crops to local communities.
A number of the these ‘opportunity crops’ have already been partially ‘rescued’, i.e. landraces and crop wild relatives have been collected and conserved in Africa’s Vegetable Genebank at the WorldVeg Regional Center for Eastern and Southern Africa, in Arusha, Tanzania. Several have also undergone selection and varietal development by the World Vegetable Center in the past decades, and have been introduced to and adopted by local communities. In Tanzania for example, 98% of all African eggplant and 65% of amaranth contains WorldVeg germplasm. But much more needs to be done to fully harness Africa’s vegetable heritage.
For the full story, see:
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-sub-saharan-africa-forgotten-foods-could-boost-climate-resilience-nutrition/
By Claudia Geib and Elodie Toto, 26 July 2024.
WORLDVEG IN THE NEWS
[Video] Da Ai Journal: Doomsday Ark (English/Mandarin)
Da Ai Televetion｜Taiwan, January 2024
[Video] OUR ISLAND: Seed exchange and conservation (English/Mandarin)
PTS, February 2023
[Video] Seed conservation and Breeding-2 (English/Mandarin)
Formosa TV, February 2023
[Video] Seed conservation and Breeding-1 (English/Mandarin)
Formosa TV, February 2023
New partnership agreement signed to improve global nutrition and food security ACIAR, February 2023
AFACI Newsletter Issue No. 22.
AFACI Newsletter, January – December 2022
[Video] PROJET NUTRIFOOD: Dr. Marco WOPEREIS visite le jardin scolaire de Goulo-Sodji à Zè (French)
AgricoTV, April 2022
Low-Cost Solar Dryers Yield Sustainable Incomes to Marginal Farmers of Koraput District in Odisha.
ICRISAT Happenings Newsletter, April 2022
Audience au Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Elevage et de la Pêche du Benin: World Vegetable Center porte le projet d’un symposium (French).
Benin ODD TV, April 2022
Team of scientists from Taiwan visits Nagaon
The Sentinel, April 2022
Interview with Edmond Totin, WorldVeg Project Manager for SAFEVEG on Climate Change in Africa (French)
UN News, April 2022
Why Seedbank Aren’t Just for Doomsday
BBC Future, April 2022
The scientists helping farmers kick the chemical habit
AFP, March 2022 – Published in France24, RFI, MSN, Global Times and others
Sharing Knowledge for Self-Sufficiency – International Aid in Fruit and Vegetable Production
Taiwan Panorama, February 2022
Pressing for policies that promote “forgotten foods”
Grow Further, 9 December 2021
Cherry tomatoes
KU Research Weekly, 2 December 2021
The fight of mushrooms in farmland. Biotechnology at the service of humanity
Spark Chronicles, 29 November 2021
Asia and Pacific Seed Association (APSA) recognizes 2021’s five ‘most influential’ seed scientists in Asia-Pacific
Seed Quest, 19 November 2021
Un plan mundial para conservar la diversidad de frutas y hortalizas
A en verde, 10 November 2021
European donor delegation discusses partnerships for greater impact delivery in Malian agriculture
ICRISAT Happenings, 15 October 2021
