A new initiative led by the World Vegetable Center aims to address hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and the climate crisis by rescuing and conserving the biodiversity of African vegetables.
The launch of the African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan, announced at the 2024 Africa Food Systems Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, is designed to bring more resources and attention to native crops in Africa. These foods are often packed with nutrients and are able to thrive with less space and fewer inputs compared to other species—but many have been neglected or underutilized, the Crop Trust reports.
As implementation of the Rescue Plan unfolds, farmers, breeders, and researchers in sub-Saharan Africa will use the rescued genetic material to increase the supply of healthy foods. School feeding programs and homestead production can then make these vegetables accessible to communities.
The Rescue Plan emerged in response to a study from the World Vegetable Center showing that biodiversity in Africa is poorly protected. Vegetables are also underrepresented in genebank collections, particularly in Africa, notes Maarten van Zonneveld, Head of Genetic Resources at the World Vegetable Center. “There’s an urgent need to rescue [and] conserve African vegetable biodiversity so that we can use it to address malnutrition,” he says.
Around the world, more than 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. And on the African continent, approximately one fifth of the population is undernourished. The World Health Organization reports that people should consume a minimum of 240 grams of vegetables but many eaters in sub-Saharan Africa receive less than a third of this.
The new Rescue Plan is part of the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS) initiative, a project focused on boosting agricultural productivity and nutrition through the development of diverse, climate-resilient crop varieties and healthy soils. And importantly, van Zonneveld explains, it is country-driven, developed by representatives of three different African plant genetic resources networks.
“There’s big movement,” van Zonneveld says, “a big recognition that it’s necessary to implement this African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan.”
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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
