Nutritious ‘orphan’ crops could (re)diversify African food systems, but appropriate means to bring this about are required. A review of the literature on crop intervention options suggested success and failure factors in promotion, but indicated little about the relative importance of production-versus consumption-based measures and how these interact. An analysis of secondary crop production data indicated that addressing food policies could be valuable for orphan crop mainstreaming, but, as with literature review, did not provide clear guidance on the importance of different interventions. A survey of experts suggested that cross-disciplinary teams are important for developing mainstreaming strategies, but revealed no clear consensus on the importance of particular measures for specific orphan crops. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Authors: McMullin, S.; Stadlmayr, B.; Mausch, K.; Revoredo-Giha, C.; Burnett, F.; Guarino, L.; Brouwer, I.D.; Jamnadass, R.; Graudal, L.; Powell, W.; Dawson, I.K.

Subjects: orphan crops, nutrition, food systems, diversification, food consumption

Publication type: ISI, Journal Article, Publication

Year: 2021

ISSN: 2211-9124

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100465