Promotion of native and orphan crops

This solution was shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM , 14 May 2021

Print date: 05 December 2024 22:16

Description of the innovative solution

Farmers Traditional food Nutritious food Indigenous crops Regulatory protection Agricultural development Agricultural extension Public-awareness campaign Behavior change Diet diversity Capacity building

There is a rich pool of native or orphan crops, fruits and vegetables that are currently underutilized and produced in very limited areas. This innovation is a whole value chain approach to promote the production, processing, and consumption of local underutilized, culturally appropriate crops to benefit farmers, diets, and the environment and make them desirable for both farmers and consumers. The innovation covers making improved production practices available for these crops, to creating market demand and supporting initiatives to make more easily accessible, desirable food products derived from these crops. This innovation will also help to identify drought resistant crops, fruits and vegetables and serve as a hedge against climate change.

Primary users

Subsistence farmers
Small & medium commercial farmers
Large & industrial farmers
Retailers
Urban consumers
Peri-urban consumers
Rural consumers

Dietary impact

Having immediate, easy, affordable access to these crops can improve plant based diet patterns, consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduce food insecurity across seasons and optimize nutrition intake. Integration of these crops in breeding, light processing and value addition, can further help scale the nutritional benefits.

Planetary impact

This innovation has potential for supporting planetary health through 1) increase biodiversity in production systems 2) contribute to more plant-based diets 3) often these local orphan crops are more suitable for local growing conditions and require less inputs e.g. pesticides, water, fertilizer, 4) they can be used to optimize land use e.g. by
growing in field margins.

Equity impact

On one hand, it will be important that those who grow the crops are fully supported and awarded. On the other hand, it will be important that these crops can be made available at low cost for vulnerable groups. Unique business models and private-public partnerships together with campaigns to promote these crops to vulnerable consumers and producers can facilitate this.

Main concerns

There are several main challenges to moving this to scale including entrenched lobbies of commercial crops, lack of awareness and attention for orphan crops, cost to unlock and scale, the unpredictability of climate change, pests and diseases in relation to crop adaptation. Likewise, potential lower yield can require more land for agriculture, over-globalization and popularization of these crops might reduce access and intra-species diversity locally, might reduce area of other crops, and might destabilize availability. Depending on scalability versus demand, a price imbalance and overload of the supply chain might occur. Different crop diseases might impact these crops more.

Supply chain segment

Agricultural inputs and primary production practices

Maturity level

Gaining traction

Criteria

Food quality Climate adaptation Increasing agrobiodiversity

SDG target

SDG 2: Zero Hunger SDG 10: Reduced Inequality SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production SDG 13: Climate Action

Context

Rural

Examples and additional resources

Real-world examples

See this solution in action in different contexts and settings around the world

African Orphan Crops Consortium

Business information

International effort to increase the promotion of Africa's most important food crops by sequencing, assembling and annotating the crops' genomes.

worldwide

africanorphancrops.org/.../

un.org/africarene...enous-crops

Shared by IFSS Research Team

Additional resources

Learn more about this solution through studies, articles, business cases, and other information

Prospects of orphan crops in climate change

Scientific paper

scoping review identifying orphan crops that contribute to (1) sustainable and healthy food systems, (2) genetic resources for future crop improvement, and (3) improving agricultural sustainability under climate change

link.springer.com/artic...3129-y

Shared by PRE-LAUNCH RESEARCH TEAM

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