Skip to main content
Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge4Policy (K4P)

Supporting policy with scientific evidence

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

Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition: A companion publication for the Compendium of forgotten foods

  • Publication | 2024
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

Resources
More information and links
Geographic coverageAfricaGlobal
Available from

07 Aug 2024

Related organisation(s)FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Knowledge service | MetadataGlobal Food and Nutrition Security | Food crises and food and nutrition securitySustainable Food Systems | Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS)Food and nutrition securityLocal foodNutrient
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)knowledge managementFoodCommodityclimate changenutritionfood securityagricultural marketbiodiversityvalue chain
Related reading
EVENT | 08 Dec 2026
EU Agri-food days 2026
The EU's flagship conference on agriculture and food returns to Brussels on 8–9 December 2026.
More
Privacy statements, terms and conditions.
You will be directed to the EU Login website where you can login/register as a user. Once connected, your credentials (First name, last name, username, email) will be registered in Knowledge4policy as part of your profile, which will allow you to get involved in all Knowledge4policy communities (help is available).
You are leaving EUROPA

You are about to navigate to an external website. Please note that we are not responsible for its content.