Mainstreaming African vegetables to improve diets and livelihoods

Abstract

Low fruit and vegetable consumption characterizes poor quality diets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) leading to millions of premature deaths. While healthy diets based on fresh vegetables are unaffordable for more than half the households in SSA, traditional African vegetables (TAVs) offer opportunities to improve diets at lower costs with locally adapted and nutrient-dense crops. The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) and its partners work to safeguard their genetic diversity, strengthen their seed systems and value chains, and promote the consumption of TAVs. WorldVeg currently conserves about 2,400 TAV accessions in its genebank in Tanzania, which are used to develop TAV improved lines through selection and breeding. Through public–private partnerships, WorldVeg’s TAV improved lines have been released in several African countries and have been adopted by hundreds of thousands of farmers. Nonetheless, vegetable consumption remains low overall in the whole region. Three major areas were identified to improve TAV production and consumption. These include (i) creating enabling policies to better mainstream TAVs into food systems; (ii) promotion and outreach activities to boost TAV consumption; and (iii) strengthened regional research and development (R&D) programs and initiatives to enhance the use of African vegetable germplasm.