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International Symposium "Underutilized Plant Species for Food, Nutrition, Income and Sustainable Development", Arusha, Tanzania March 2-8, 2008
Underutilized plants are species with under-exploited
potential for contributing to food security and nutrition by combating ‘hidden hunger’ caused by micronutrient deficiencies; they often have medicinal properties and other multiple uses; they provide options for improved incomes to the poor, and for environmental services to the global community.
These species collectively receive little attention from research, extension services, farmers, policy and decision makers, donors, technology providers and consumers, yet they form intricate components for the wellbeing of millions of people. Many have an untapped potential for processing into refreshments and snacks and for marketing in the domestic and regional markets, thus providing poor people with new income opportunities.
An international Symposium was convened in Arusha, Tanzania 3–7 March 2008. 209 participants from 54 countries came together to share and discuss approaches to promote underutilized plants in four main areas of importance: food security, nutrition and health, income generation, and environmental sustainability.
The Symposium was co-convened under the umbrella of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) by the Sri Lanka-based International Centre for Underutilised Crops and the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, Bioversity International, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, GlobalHort and AVRDC–The World Vegetable Center, whose Regional Office for Africa was the local host.
The Symposium recognised the need to provide a global forum for exchange and debate on issues related to the promotion of underutilized plants. Dr Hannah Jaenicke, Director of ICUC and the main convener of the Symposium stated: “Many researchers and development specialists are working on different aspects of evaluating so-called underutilized crops. But they suffer from a lack of coordination and often have no access to relevant information elsewhere, as much of it is not published.”
She said: “Many underutilized crops are plants used by the poor to meet their daily needs; they are not high priorities for national governments as are commodity crops. Many of the people working on these plants feel isolated. This symposium provided a unique opportunity for experts from around the world to meet and exchange ideas and develop strategies for future collaboration.”
The symposium resulted in the formulation of a number of recommendations.
The Symposium was co-convened and co-funded by ICUC, ISHS, GFU, AVRDC, GlobalHort, Bioversity, PROTA, FARA, CIDA, CTA, SDC and Sida. The Kirkhouse Trust and WrenMedia also provided significant support.
LATEST NEWS
Hannah Jaenicke Leaves Crops for the Future
Published on 3rd Feb 2010
After more than four years as Director of the International Centre 
for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) and more recently as Interim Global Coordinator of Crops for the Future (CFF), Dr Hannah Jaenicke will be leaving the position at the end of March of this year.
Hannah has been a very dear friend of GlobalHort and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours.
ICUC and Globalhort co-organized, co-sponsored and co-participated in several events and proposals like the ICUC conference in Arusha 2008, the All Africa Horticulture Congress 2009, the proposal for High-Value Crops Challenge Program, the recently submitted Hortinnov proposal, and the Recipes for Success project funded by ICDF in 2010. ICUC/CFF participated in the GlobalHort launch meeting in 2006 and in the Paris GlobalHort Board meeting in 2007 (as an observer). We hope to continue our relationship in future in the complimentary spirit inspired by the GFAR Global Partnership Program (GPP).
A new Global Coordinator for CFF, Dr Michael Hermann, will begin work on 1 April 2010. We look forward to a continued close relationship with CFF.
For more information [...]
Crops for the Future has New Website
Published on 27th Mar 2009
Crops for the Future is pleased to announce that a new Crops for the Future website is now live, at www.cropsforthefuture.org. It is only in an interim form at present, however, and it is expected to evolve in the coming months.
The latest news, funding and job opportunities, publications and interesting websites related to underutilised species will continue to be posted to this new site as we obtain them. You may also wish to post information yourselves.
For the time being we only will send out mailings to you if there is something extremely important or time-constrained. For this reason we encourage you to make use of our "rss feed". You will find the clickable rss logo in the top right corner, and the following links offer help on how to use rss feeds (rss help at cnet and at bbc).
We hope our interim service is of use for you while we work our way towards a more integrated communication tool that will make Crops for the Future web site the one stop shop on underutilised plant species. We have finished analysing the survey results and are now turning your wants into reality. Thanks to all of you who responded to our questionnaire - and have so helped develop our new platform. Your requirements and ideas regarding this subject are precious to us and all, please feel free to let us know about your concerns any time.
With our best personal regards
For the Crops for the Future Team
Hannah Jaenicke & Paul Bordoni
Resources
Agribusiness in Sustainable Natural African Plant Products (ASNPP)
Bioversity International Neglected and Underutilized Species
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Center for New Crops & Plant Products (Purdue University)
Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species
The International Center for Underutilized Crops
The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC)
Lost Crops of Africa. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press
Agroforestry Database (Search)
BCGI Plant Search (Search) Botanic Gardens Conservation International index.
ePIC - Electronic Plant Information Centre (Search) A major project making Kew's digitised information about plants available online. It searches through Kew's collections, bibliographies, nomenclators and checklists, publications and taxonomic works, as well as external links and content on Kew's website.
E-PROSEA (Search) Plant Resources of South-East Asia
GFU Underutilized Species GFU Database (Search)
GFU Underutilized Species GFU Database (Browse)
Hortivar (Search) FAO´s database on performances of horticulture cultivars in relation to agro-ecological conditions, cultivation practices, the occurrence of pests and diseases and timing of the production. It covers six categories of horticultural crops: fruits, vegetables, roots and tubers, ornamentals, mushrooms, herbs and condiments.
NewCrop (Search/Browse)
Plants of Southern Africa (Search)
Plants for a Future (Search) A resource centre for rare and unusual plants, particularly those which have edible, medicinal or other uses. 7,300 plants listed.
Plantzafrica (Search) Plants native to Southern Africa.
PROTABASE (Search/Browse) Plant Resources of Tropical Africa
Try-African-Food.Com Felix Muchiri Waweru is a student presently enrolled in the Masters of Plant Breeding and Genetics Program at the University of Nairobi. He has come up with a very informative and entertaining website that showcases the vast assortment of African food. He says that there are many "lost varieties" that have healthy nutritive values. The creation of this website started when he began working on a project of empowering resource poor farmers in Kenya by exploiting new markets through e-commerce. This website is 6 months old and it is gaining traffic daily. In this site you will find information on such vegetables as stinging nettle (thabai), cowpea leaves (Kunde) and many more. Mr. Waweu would like to collaborate with others to make this efforts a success.