The name says it all. If a crop specie is under-utilized, it simply means that the crop and its products are not used to their full potential. Other terms also used to describe these crops are “neglected”, “forgotten” and “under-exploited”. Different crop species end up on this “forgotten list” for various reasons. It may be due to unrecognized nutritional value of the species, poor consumer awareness, genetic erosion of their genepools, lack of technical information on them and lack of interest by mainstream agricultural researchers and producers.
The truth however is that these under-utilized crop species have the potential to contribute to food security. Many of them already show the potential for climate change adaptation, dietary diversification, nutritional improvement and other environmental services.
It is my opinion that great effort must be made to study and develop these under-utilized crop species. They may just be crops of the future when the human race suffers from population explosion and adverse climate change.
agwithEzinne 