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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy
Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2024
Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition: A companion publication for the Compendium of forgotten foods
Global Food and Nutrition Security

Africa is home to a diversity of indigenous food crops that are locally adapted and less fastidious than exotic cultivars. Indigenous foods are foods of plant and animal origin that naturally exist in specific agro-ecological domains and are produced and consumed as part of traditional diets. Although indigenous foods have the potential to sustainably provide dietary nutrients to various communities across Africa, they have suffered progressive loss of cultural image, denigration, and utter neglect, being largely substituted with exotic foods. Consequently, they have earned the unenviable appellations of "forgotten", "neglected" or "orphan" foods due to the fact that they have received relatively little or no policy and research attention – especially towards their genetic improvement and value chain development.

This scoping study defines and characterizes the terms “forgotten”, “underutilized” and other related terms used to describe such food commodities; identify, prioritize, and document forgotten food commodities with high potential to contribute to food and nutritional security in Africa; and compile and document the nutritional value of the forgotten foods. Based on a survey in 25 African countries a list a compendium of forgotten foods in Africa was developed.

See also full compendium: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/publication/compendium-forgotten-foods-africa_en