Status of Underutilised Crops in South Africa: Opportunities for Developing Research Capacity

Abstract

Underutilised crops represent an important component of agro-biodiversity with potential to contribute to climate change adaptation, food security and sovereignty in poor rural areas. However, despite emerging research interest, they continue to occupy the peripheries of mainstream agriculture. There is a need to consolidate the gains made and propose a coherent strategy for translating underutilised crops into mainstream agriculture. The status of underutilised crops in South Africa (past, present and on-going research) was reviewed with a view to identifying existing gaps, opportunities and challenges for developing future research capacity. The review confirmed that several underutilised crops are drought tolerant, adapted to low levels of water use and thus suitable for cultivation in most marginal production areas typical of semi-arid and arid cropping systems. In addition, several are nutrient dense and could be used to improve dietary diversity among poor rural people. These characteristics make them ideal for inclusion in climate change adaptation and promotion of food sovereignty. There is need for a paradigm shift away from practices that have promoted a few major crops to an agro-ecology based land use classification system that recognises diversity and strengthens food networks. There is a need to identify those underutilised crops that show the greatest potential for success and can be fitted into semi-arid and arid cropping systems and prioritise them for future research, development and innovation.

Developing a Roadmap for Improving Neglected and Underutilized Crops: A Case Study of South Africa

“…The current study is a sequel to an initial study on the status of NUS in South Africa, which recommended prioritizing NUS and developing a strategy to promote them (Mabhaudhi et al, 2017). The current study was structured into two stages, (i) identifying priority drought tolerant and nutrient dense NUS, and (ii) outlining a roadmap for promoting research, development and innovation for the identified NUS in South Africa.…”

“…The five (5) commonly used terms that were identified were; (i) underutilized crops, (ii) indigenous crops, (iii) traditional crops, (iv) neglected crops, and (v) orphan crops. This was based on common terminology identified in the initial study (Mabhaudhi et al, 2017). The terms were used to conduct online searches using Google® and Google Scholar®, Scopus, ScienceDirect and SpringerLink search engines.…”

“…It was noted that from the list of identified underutilized crops, not all of them have CWR in South Africa. However, despite most crops not being indigenous to South Africa, they have become traditional crops in that their cultivation has formed part of traditional cropping systems for more than 100 years, from which local landraces have derived (Mabhaudhi et al, 2017). …”

“…Several NUS are drought and heat stress tolerant, resistant to pests and diseases, and adapted to semi-arid and arid environments (Mayes et al, 2012; Chivenge et al, 2015; Chimonyo et al, 2016; Chibarabada et al, 2017; Hadebe et al, 2017; Mabhaudhi et al, 2017). In addition, most NUS are nutrient dense (Padulosi and Hoeschle-Zeledon, 2004) and could be useful in diversifying diets (Mayes et al, 2012) and addressing micronutrient deficiencies in poor rural communities (Chibarabada et al, 2017; Govender et al, 2017; Hadebe et al, 2017).…”

“…Thus, their promotion in marginal agricultural production areas could improve availability and access to nutritious food by rural people (Williams and Haq, 2000). Their promotion in rural areas could also create opportunities for rural economic development through the development of new value chains (Mabhaudhi et al, 2016a, 2017). Importantly, NUS, which include crop wild relatives (CWR), are an important germplasm resource for future crop improvements for beneficial traits such as nutritional value and abiotic and biotic stress tolerances (Castañeda-Alvarez et al, 2016).…”