"Orphan crops" refers to plantings that have fallen out of favor but could offer advantages over staples like wheat and grain in a changing climate. Above: Lablab purpureus, also known as Indian bean and Egyptian kidney bean, is native to sub-Saharan Africa and India. It's a warm-season annual or short-lived perennial with a thick stem that grows up to 3 feet and vines that can reach 25 feet long.
He's now taking on that daunting project and has recruited partners that include the U.N. and the African Union. It's a quest to revive traditional food crops and fight the unhealthy dominance of major crops like corn, wheat and rice in farmers' fields and consumers' diets.To explain the project's goal, Fowler cites one plant in particular. It's a hardy, drought-tolerant legume called the grass pea, a native of Africa.
Fowler acquired some grass pea seeds and brought them to his New York farm, where he's growing and eating them."It's like a sugar snap pea," he says. It's delicious."Yet the grass pea has some drawbacks. It doesn't produce big harvests, and the plant contains a natural toxin. If grass pea is all you eat, it'll make you sick.
These crops get so little attention, though, they're sometimes called orphan crops."There were no resources associated with promoting those crops," says Achigan-Dako. A plant breeder was more likely to get funding to work on crops that are widely grown around the world, like corn or wheat.A vendor sorts grains at a market in Ghana. Fonio, a drought-resilient grain native to West Africa, could bolster the regional food supply if there are advances in its harvesting and processing.
The initiative will support plant breeders like Enoch Achigan-Dako, in Benin, helping them develop new, productive varieties that farmers will find attractive to grow, ultimately making them more available and affordable for consumers."Most of these crops have never had a single scientifically trained plant breeder working on them. So how could we hope to realize their potential?" says Fowler.Lablab is one of the edible"opportunity crops" being championed by a new campaign.
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