Reorienting research investments toward under-researched crops for sustainable food systems
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Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Food and Energy Security
Abstract
The dominance of a few staple crops (maize, rice, and wheat) in most agricultural
systems hampers the application of interventions to improve food security and nu trition. Research and development attention has focused on improving the pro duction and utilization of these crops, leaving other crops under-researched and
underutilized. Subsequently, there have been high malnutrition rates due to poor
diet diversity, yet there are “opportunity crops” that remain under researched. The
opportunity crops can unlock solutions to food insecurity, malnutrition, a lack of
biodiversity, and indeed poor climate adaptation. The study explored diversifica tion in agricultural systems to analyze whether reorientation of research invest ment to include under-researched crops can increase nutrient gain and enhance
dietary diversity. Research outputs benchmarked as the number of publications
from three leading African universities, Nairobi, Pretoria, and Ghana, were related
to crop diversity and nutrition of crops in five clusters: cereals, vegetables, leg umes, roots and tubers, and nuts. The findings show that maize was the predomi nantly researched crop across the three institutions. Low research outputs were
observed for pearl millet, finger millet, and yam across the three institutions: ama ranth and nightshade (Pretoria), sweet potatoes (Pretoria and Ghana), Marama
bean (Nairobi), and soya bean (Nairobi and Ghana). There was nutrient gain
across all five clusters, particularly from under-researched indigenous crops such
as finger millet, amaranth, nightshade, yam, sweet potatoes, Marama bean, and
soybean. Nutrient gain was contributed more by cereals and root and tuber crops
from Pretoria, vegetables and nuts (Ghana), as well as legumes (Nairobi). The find ings demonstrate that incorporating research on the least researched crops with
successful integration of other research and development initiatives (policy and
dissemination) can increase nutrition and improve dietary diversity. The nutrient
gain will positively affect food security and nutrition, contributing to the achieve ment of Africa Agenda 2063, the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals,and reducing food imports. The findings can inform research investment and
decision across different institutions within the African continent. Research in vestment targeting crops such as finger millet, amaranthus, sweet potatoes, soya
beans, and cashew nuts is needed considering the nutritional contribution, cli mate change adaptability, market potential, and biodiversity contribution. Further
analysis should explore production, socio-economic (marketability and income
generation), and environmental gains (adaptive ability to climate change) for spe cific crops. The development of frameworks to guide the analysis of the nature and
scope of factors affecting the contribution of these crops to food security and nutri tion, as well as research on specific crops considering geographic distribution and
institutional involvement, is also needed.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
crop diversity, food systems, indigenous crops, research institutions