Overview: 

Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) are vital yet often overlooked crops that offer significant potential for addressing food insecurity, malnutrition, and climate resilience. These species, which include traditional and indigenous crops, have been marginalized in agricultural research and policies. However, their ability to thrive in diverse environments and their high nutritional value make them valuable for sustainable food systems.

Key findings: 

Neglected and underutilized species (NUS) are those to which little attention is paid, or which are entirely ignored by agricultural researchers, plant breeders and policymakers. Typically, NUS are not traded as commodities. They are wild or semi-domesticated varieties and non-timber forest species adapted to particular, often quite local, environments. Many of these varieties and species, along with a wealth of traditional knowledge about their cultivation and use, are being lost at an alarming rate.

Yet NUS present tremendous opportunities for fighting poverty, hunger and malnutrition. And they can help make agricultural production systems more resilient to climate change. Not least, acknowledgment of the value of NUS in traditional foods and cultures can empower indigenous communities (women in particular) and reaffirm their identity.

The time for action on NUS is now. There is a growing realization that agriculture must diversify. NUS have an important role to play in advancing agricultural development beyond the green revolution model of improving and raising the yields of staple crops. Neglect by agronomic researchers and policy makers, genetic erosion, loss of local knowledge, marketing and climate change are major challenges to the sustainable use of NUS.

Recommendations: 

Reversing the neglect, tackling these challenges, and ensuring that NUS are conserved and used sustainably, means taking urgent action in eight areas:

- Change the perceptions of NUS as unimportant “poor man’s food”.

The neglect of NUS and failure to use them fully stems from a lack of awareness of their economic and nutritional value.. Public awareness campaigns, better information and training can help farmers and consumers realize the benefits NUS can bring and can encourage scientists and policymakers to optimize and promote these benefits.

Develop capacity in researching, teaching, policymaking, trading and farming NUS. This means training farmers and other groups along value chains in, for example, crop management, producing good quality seeds, selecting varieties, intercropping systems, managing soil health, adding value and developing products, packaging, bookkeeping and marketing. Training is particularly important for women as it empowers them to play an important role in taking NUS to markets. Broadening agricultural curricula to include the conservation and use of NUS along with the staple crops will encourage young scientists to take food and nutritional approaches to agricultural development.

- Undertake more research on NUS, particularly with regard to their adaptive qualities and the links between NUS and nutrition and livelihoods.

Properly documenting, collecting and sharing data especially on the nutritional value and adaptative traits on NUS are essential. Research will need to include molecular work to identify NUS material suitable for breeding. Links between scientific and traditional knowledge systems will need to be created and inter-disciplinary research networks established.

- Set up global on-farm NUS conservation programs.

Setting up global NUS conservation programs will strengthen in situ conservation of wild species and ex situ conservation in gene banks. A combination of in situ and ex situ approaches will empower local farmers, particularly women.

- Involve the full range of stakeholders in participatory partnerships to promote and conserve NUS, particularly farmer and women’s organizations.

Addressing challenges, needs and opportunities related to promoting NUS calls for active collaboration with local communities and mainstreaming gender-sensitive approaches. Through each step of the research and development processes, stakeholders – from smallholder farmers to policymakers – must be consulted and involved through open participatory processes. Farmer organizations and traditional seed systems can help make programs to promote the relevance and effectiveness of NUS more effective.

- Find innovative ways to upgrade NUS market chains and to develop and market value-added products.

Key priorities in marketing NUS are improving access to markets, adding value and stimulating demand. Because new technologies developed for commercial crops are not always suited to traditional NUS, this means finding innovative solutions to simplify processing, create new products and establish multi-stakeholder platforms for NUS value chains. Top chefs, restaurants and food retailers can play a leading role in promoting the use of NUS in gastronomy and food systems.

- Put in place legal frameworks, policies and financial incentives to promote NUS and encourage agricultural diversification.

Policies, such as including NUS in school feeding programs and promoting them as components in sustainable diets, enriching food aid with nutritious NUS and subsidizing cultivation and marketing of NUS, can encourage their use. Governments can mainstream NUS best practices, methods and tools into routine operations. Financial support can take the form of schemes such as payment for conserving agrobiodiversity.

- Encourage collaboration in researching, promoting, conserving and sustainably using NUS, and coordinating activities and multi-stakeholder platforms across sectors.

More needs to be done to ensure that NUS are no longer ignored and neglected by researchers and markets. This means strengthening cooperation among stakeholders and creating synergies at national, regional and international levels. Coordination to promote NUS at different levels and in different areas will help establish common approaches, such as standard methods for documenting and monitoring on-farm conservation and international policies for trading NUS.. Mechanisms and processes that facilitate strategic synergies among national, regional and international networks, and collaborative platforms, need to be encouraged and supported.