Increasingly arid conditions and a delayed start to the rainy season are challenging agricultural production in Mali and exacerbating existing issues with chronic food insecurity and malnutrition. Native, underutilized crops, such as fonio (Digitaria exilis) and Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) are well-adapted to the arid conditions of the Sahel and can help secure production under climate change. Native vegetables such as West African sorrel (Corchorus olitorius), wild spinach (Amaranthus sp.), spider plant (Cleome gynandra), and Ethiopian eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum) are grown and gathered by communities in Mali and provide important sources of micronutrients like iron, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin C. Nevertheless, such traditional crops have received little attention from research and development efforts, which have focused on a narrow basket of commodities that have mostly been introduced from outside of Africa. Traditional crops face numerous constraints to enhance their use but, with some attention, can play key roles in diversifying farm systems for better nutrition and resilience.
A holistic approach addressing multiple bottlenecks in supply and demand is being applied for fonio and Bambara groundnut in Mali through the project “Linking agrobiodiversity value chains, climate adaptation and nutrition: Empowering the poor to manage risk”. Multiple stakeholders are being consulted and involved to devise value chain interventions that are pro-poor and gender-sensitive. Key actions being taken are participatory evaluations of diverse landraces and improved varieties to identify well-adapted materials, training women on processing methods and novel recipes for the target crops, investigating and introducing processing technology to reduce drudgery, and building collective action and communication among stakeholders to improve the organization of the value chains and farmers’ income from the target crops. Sensitization and awareness raising on the value of native crops for nutrition and climate resilience is aimed to increase demand and consumption of fonio, Bambara groundnut and other nutritious underutilized species by the participating communities.
In addition to work on fonio and Bambara groundnut, investigation is also being made into the role and potential marketing of native vegetables. The vegetables cultivated, collected, and consumed by the communities are being documented to identify species with potential to improve nutrition, income and climate resilience—especially in the dry season—for further action and promotion. The current use and value chain of West African sorrel is also being investigated to identify how this crop can be leveraged for improving livelihoods and nutrition of local people.
