Webinar on Neglected and Underutilized Crops

Webinar on Neglected and Underutilized Crops

 15 October 2025. Webinar on Neglected and Underutilized Crops.

RECORDING FORTHCOMING

  • Following opening remarks on policy perspectives from the European Commission’s Directorate-General INTPA and ECHO, the webinar presented the key findings of the Knowledge Review on NUS (19 pp) of the Knowledge Centre for Global Food and Nutrition Security 

Neglected and Underutilised Species (NUS) - overlooked crops and edible plants - hold great potential to enhance food security, farmers' income, and livelihoods, particularly in the Global South. They can also contribute to women's empowerment and healthier diets and the production of local, accessible Ready-to-Use therapeutic foods to combat acute malnutrition.

This webinar brought together NUS experts to share the latest research findings and identify strategies to advance NUS research and policymaking.

Moderator: Joanna Kane-Potaka – GFAiR's Executive Secretary (formerly at ICRISAT – Smart Food Initiative)

 

Policy Perspective

  • Christophe Larose – DG INTPA, DeSIRA programme
  • Dana Le Roy – ECHO

 

The Potential of NUS

  • Carlo Rega and Caroline Callenius (JRC)

 

Panel discussion

  • Hamid El Bilali – Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM Bari), Italy
  • Oluwole Fatunbi (PhD) is currently the Ag. Director of Research and Innovation at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).. He has conducted hands-on research, driving knowledge and technology development in various fields, including agricultural innovation systems, soil sciences, climate smart agriculture, agroecology, and forgotten foods. Oluwole is the curator of the Africa Community of Practice on Forgotten Foods and leads the development of the Africa Manifesto on Forgotten Foods.
  • Nico Wilms-Posen – Crop Trust
  • Arno Bratz – Welthungerhilfe
  • Arshiya Noorani (PhD) is an Agricultural Officer at FAO and is a member of the Seeds and Plant Genetic Resources Team of the Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP). In this role, she supports Members through providing technical and policy support for the in situ conservation and on-farm management of plant genetic resources. Prior to joining FAO Arshiya worked on in situ conservation and on-farm management of crop diversity at Bioversity International. Pierre Ferrand (M. Sc) is an Agriculture Officer on agroecology and ecosystem services in the Plant Production and Protection Division at FAO HQ in Rome, Italy. His role involves managing the Agroecology Knowledge Hub, and the Global Action on Pollination Services for Sustainable Agriculture, supporting the Agroecology Coalition, and providing technical backstopping to a broad range of field projects.
  • Katrin Glatzel (PhD) is a public policy specialist working at the intersection of research, policy, and governance, focussing on agrifood systems in Africa. She is Director for Global Strategy and Programs at AKADEMIYA2063 in Kigali, Rwanda. Previously, she was Program Leader at the University of Bonn’s Centre for Development Research (ZEF) in Germany and Director of Policy Innovation at AKADEMIYA2063 in Dakar, Senegal. She also served as a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and at Imperial College London

 

Q&A

  • Mady CISSE (PhD) is a Full Professor in Food Processing and Science at High Polytechnic School at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar. He works on key areas such as food system, food security and safety, improving the nutritional status of populations by promoting local African products, sensory and consumers tests. He is currently expert of the National Codex Alimentarius Committee of Senegal and President of African Nutrition Society.

 

Concluding

  • Felix Rembold – European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)

 

Resources

FiBL, recently published a video highlighting the benefits of NUS along the value chain, from farmers to consumers, focusing on success stories from Tanzania through the CROPS4HD project (Consumption of Resilient Orphan Crops and Products for Healthier Diets). You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIp_mKxa-aI

Through the FO-RI programme funded by EU and managed by AgriCord, farmers organisations are working to revive and valorise neglected and traditional crops and varieties: from local rice in Senegal and farmer-saved seeds in Mali and Tanzania, to breadfruit in the Pacific. These farmer-led research projects show how local knowledge and agroecology can bring neglected crops back to the centre of resilient and sustainable food systems. You can read here the Capitalisation document of the FO-RI program: https://www.agricord.org/en/publications/capitalisation-farmer-led-research-innovation-program

SUSTLIVES project (DeSIRA), analysed the value chains of 8 NUS in Burkina Faso and Niger (in French): Burkina Faso (https://www.sustlives.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A1.4_Livrable-Rapport-Burkina-Faso-Final.pdf) et Niger (https://www.sustlives.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A1.4_Livrable-Rapport-Niger-Final.pdf)

 

Forgotten Foods: A GFAR/GFAiR Collective Action Success Story
 

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture Value Chain Analysis for Selected IndigenousVegetables in Ghana(Cocoyam Leaf (Kontomire), Turkey Berry (Kwahu Nsusua), Okra and GardenEggs) 
 

Africa Community of Practice (CoP)

The central objective of the Africa Community of Practice (CoP) on forgotten and underutilized food commodities is to foster the reintegration of forgotten food commodities into the mainstream food systems in Africa countries through research, knowledge generation and dissemination, technology development, advocacy for policy development and fostering investment. https://faraafrica.community/fara-net/forgotten-foods