Local Solutions for Sustainable Food Systems: The Contribution of Orphan Crops and Wild Edible Species

Abstract

Calls for a global food system transformation and finding more sustainable ways of producing healthier, safe and nutritious food for all have spurred production approaches such as sustainable intensification and biofortification with limited consideration of the copious amounts of orphan crops, traditional varieties and wild edible species readily available in many countries, mostly in and around smallholder farmers’ fields. This paper explores the potential role of locally available; affordable and climate-resilient orphan crops, traditional varieties and wild edible species to support local food system transformation. Evidence from Brazil, Kenya, Guatemala, India, Mali, Sri Lanka and Turkey is used to showcase a three-pronged approach that aims to: (i) increase evidence of the nutritional value and biocultural importance of these foods, (ii) better link research to policy to ensure these foods are considered in national food and nutrition security strategies and actions, and (iii) improve consumer awareness of the desirability of these alternative foods so that they may more easily be incorporated in diets, food systems and markets. In the seven countries, this approach has brought about positive changes around increasing community dietary diversity and increasing market opportunities for smallholder growers, as well as increased attention to biodiversity conservation.

Born to Eat Wild: An Integrated Conservation Approach to Secure Wild Food Plants for Food Security and Nutrition

“…One of the most recent and comprehensive attempts to fill the evidence gap in food composition data is provided by the GEF-supported Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Project (BFN). Led by Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Turkey, and implemented by Bioversity International with support from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the project has generated food composition data for 185 plant species, many of them wild, particularly in Brazil and Turkey [ 28 , 150 , 153 ]. Because of the high costs associated with food composition analysis, the four countries carried out literature reviews prior to the project to identify information gaps and narrow down the list of potentially interesting species to a practicable sample size for analysis and to select the species with the greatest potential for conservation, domestication/management, promotion and marketing.…”

“…Recent interest in food and gastronomy programs worldwide has acted as the perfect jumping board for WFPs, particularly in developing countries. Many of the approaches adopted by BFN project countries have extensively been described [ 28 , 150 , 153 ], and broadly involve communities partnering with celebrity chefs, gastronomists, or taking advantage of existing food festivals to organize information and hands-on events on WFP collection, transformation, and cooking ( Figure 10 ). Innovative approaches for reaching out to broader audiences are described in detail by Gee and Lee (2020) who look at emerging youth-led innovations that can be productively applied to the conservation and sustainable use of food biodiversity, including WFPs.…”

Fonio and Bambara Groundnut Value Chains in Mali: Issues, Needs, and Opportunities for Their Sustainable Promotion

“…Simple and inexpensive certification mechanisms linked to on-farm conservation of NUS diversity and to resilience and nutritional benefits arising from their greater use should be more decisively taken up by governments and agencies concerned for the wellbeing of local populations [57]. Additional national policy measures that could be explored to strengthen the value chains of NUS in Mali include the introduction of these nutritious foods in public procurement schemes (e.g., school meal programs), as was done recently in Guatemala [58], or the establishment of multi-stakeholder platforms involving all value chain actors, as was done successfully in the case of amaranth in Bolivia [59].…”

Climate change and human health in Montana: a special report of the Montana Climate Assessment

“…On a local scale, community food enterprises are taking an active role in growing, marketing, processing, distributing, and retailing food to decrease reliance on food vulnerability of global food systems. Building local food availability creates local jobs, improves the community economy, in some cases lowers emissions from transportation and storage, and benefits human health by providing more fresh and nutritious food (Norberg-Hodge et al 2002;Borelli et al 2020).…”