Akinola Racheal, Pereira Laura Maureen, Mabhaudhi Tafadzwanashe, de Bruin Francia-Marié, Rusch Loubie
Faculty of Agrisciences, Stellenbosch University, Mike de Vries, Merriman Ave, Stellenbosch Central, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa.
Centre for Food Policy, City University of London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK.
Sustainability. 2020 Apr 24;12(8):3493. doi: 10.3390/su12083493. eCollection 2020 Apr 2.
Indigenous and traditional foods crops (ITFCs) have multiple uses within society, and most notably have an important role to play in the attempt to diversify the food in order to enhance food and nutrition security. However, research suggests that the benefits and value of indigenous foods within the South African and the African context have not been fully understood and synthesized. Their potential value to the African food system could be enhanced if their benefits were explored more comprehensively. This synthesis presents a literature review relating to underutilized indigenous crop species and foods in Africa. It organizes the findings into four main contributions, nutritional, environmental, economic, and social-cultural, in line with key themes of a sustainable food system framework. It also goes on to unpack the benefits and challenges associated with ITFCs under these themes. A major obstacle is that people are not valuing indigenous foods and the potential benefit that can be derived from using them is thus neglected. Furthermore, knowledge is being lost from one generation to the next, with potentially dire implications for long-term sustainable food security. The results show the need to recognize and enable indigenous foods as a key resource in ensuring healthy food systems in the African continent.
本土和传统粮食作物在社会中具有多种用途，最显著的是在使食物多样化以加强粮食和营养安全的努力中发挥重要作用。然而，研究表明，南非及整个非洲背景下本土食物的益处和价值尚未得到充分理解和综合。如果能更全面地探索其益处，它们对非洲粮食系统的潜在价值将会得到提升。本综述呈现了一篇关于非洲未充分利用的本土作物品种和食物的文献综述。它按照可持续粮食系统框架的关键主题，将研究结果归纳为四个主要方面，即营养、环境、经济和社会文化方面。它还进一步阐述了在这些主题下与本土和传统粮食作物相关的益处和挑战。一个主要障碍是人们不重视本土食物，因此忽视了使用它们可能带来的潜在益处。此外，知识正一代一代地流失，这对长期可持续粮食安全可能产生严重影响。结果表明，有必要认识到本土食物并使其成为确保非洲大陆健康粮食系统的关键资源。
