A new effort was launched at the end of April to promote neglected and underutilized species in Mali, India and Guatemala for better resilience and nutrition. The project, supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Union, and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), will pay special attention to indigenous people, who are among the most vulnerable to climate change and some of the most important custodians of agricultural biodiversity.
Stress tolerant staples such as fonio and minor millets will be valuable assets in facing diminishing, more unpredictable rains and soil degradation linked to climate change. To promote more nutritionally complete diets, attention will also be given to underutilized vegetables, fruits or pulses.
The project will apply the holistic value chain approach that was developed over the last 15 years of work with Andean grains in Latin America and minor millets South Asia (the IFAD-NUS project). This approach involves assessing and addressing the most important bottlenecks to greater use of target species, considering both production and demand sides. In this holistic approach, action is taken to ensure the conservation of the genetic diversity of target crops and to raise awareness on the role of local agricultural biodiversity for nutrition.
To launch the project, a meeting was held in Rome April 27-29, bringing together experts from different fields and organizations to discuss and refine the methodological framework for the project. The framework is currently being finalized through a consultative process, necessary for this highly interdisciplinary project. National stakeholder meetings will take place in June where target crops and sites will be determined and the tools for baseline assessment further refined.
The project webpage has been launched on the NUS Community site, where you can watch for updates and results of the work. Abstracts and photos from the launch conference have been shared and will be followed by a full proceedings from the event later this year.
Related Links
Project Partners
- Action for Social Advancement (India)
- L'Institut D'Economie Rural (Mali)
- Universidad del Valle del Guatemala (Guatemala)
- The Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty
Related Documents
- A holistic approach to enhance the use of neglected and underutilized species: the case of Andean grains in Bolivia and Peru. Padulosi et al 2014
- Linking agrobiodiversity value chains, climate adaptation and nutrition. Blog by Klaas Koolman on the meeting.
- Presenting the project “Linking agrobiodiversity value chains, climate adaptation and nutrition: Empowering the poor to manage risk”. Blog by Beatrice Del Monte on the Kip Universitas webpage