1. This International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9, is an opportunity to celebrate the ecological and cultural value of indigenous foodways. In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared the day to encourage the world to protect and promote the rights of indigenous...
  2. The potential of so-called underutilised crops for human nutrition and as a source of income for poor farmers in the Global South was discussed at the Elsevier International Conference on Global Food Security in Cape Town, South Africa. Researchers from Kenya, Germany and the USA presented their...
  3. 01.03.2021 Several species of edible ferns exist around the world, ranging from the tropics to more temperate regions, and most commonly include the bracken ferns (Pteridium spp.), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), and the Stenochlaena spp. ferns. However, the focus of this study is on the vegetable...
  4. 01.01.1997 This publication is a summary of the proceedings of the workshop on conservation and improvement of bambara groundnut presented in November 1995 in Harare, Zimbabwe. 165 pages, illustrations, photos
  5. In Niger, a social enterprise is using local plants that are resistant to the arid climate of the Sahel to produce nutritious food. The result is better incomes for farmers and a preserved environment. The nutritional value of the leaves, flowers, fruit and seeds of some 15 wild plants are being...
  6. Resources in this collection include presentations from theSeed Saving & Soil Health Training in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 5-6 August 2018. This training focused on seed saving, seed production of under-utilized species, soil health and integrated pest management. This training was organized...
  7. This special issue of the ATDF Journal is dedicated to the Orphan Crops of Africa. Although orphan crops are also known by different names (e.g. underutilized-, lost- or disadvantaged-crops), they all refer to a group of crops that are vital to the economy of developing countries due to their...
  8. There are around 30,000 edible plant species in the world, but just 30 species of crop account for 95% of what we eat. Most edible plant species – known as neglected and underutilised species (NUS), or orphan crops – are overlooked in agricultural development. These crops are often nutrient rich...
  9. Key Resource 01.01.2006 Dr. Martin Price, co-founder of ECHO and former head of ECHO’s Agricultural Resources Department, has said, “I would consider chaya to be one of the five most important underutilized food plants ECHO distributes. I give it this rank because of its ability to thrive in both arid and rainy regions,...
  10. Key Resource 09.02.2018 Traditional diets included a wide variety of ingredients from myriad wild and domesticated plants. Regional cuisines were shaped by native species in their local environment and by gradually-adopted plants from distant places. The modern global food system and market pressures have reversed this...