Rescue plan for the endangered African indigenous vegetable varieties launched

Kigali. The World Vegetable Center in partnership with Crop Trust,African Union Development Agency and African Union Commission launched a robust rescue plan for the endangered African indigenous vegetable varieties, many of which are on the road to extinction, following thousands of others that have disappeared.

The ten-year plan, dabbed vegetable biodiversity rescue plan, unveiled on the sidelines of the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) in Kigali, brought attention to the precarious state vegetable varieties are in, highlighting what needs to be done.

Dr. Gabriel Rugalema, the World Vegetable Center associate director general for Africa, said climate change and rapid urbanisation are some of the drivers of this vegetable species extinction.

He also said poor farming practices as well as the implosion of exotic vegetable varieties on the continent, has rendered many of the African indigenous unattractive in markets since they now have little to no financial value, hence being neglected by farmers.

“Effects of climate change, like droughts, floods, and urbanization pose the most danger to indigenous African vegetable varieties, this rescue plan is an opportunity to bring other stakeholders in this response to save our vegetable species” said Rugalema.

For the next ten years, a total of $12 million will be needed every year to implement the rescue plan. The plan will touch four components, rescue and conservation, generating and sharing seed and information, partnerships and enabling policies as well as education and mainstreaming vegetable seed varieties.

Studies show that there is a 50 percent loss of economic loss as a result of decline of agro-biodiversity, and a major part of this being indigenous African vegetables. Among other things, the rescue plan will simultaneously address supply, demand, and policy challenges.

It is also aligned with global, continental and national frameworks that have components which aim to improve the rescue, conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity. Governments and private sector have in the past been slow at investing seed banks and research to safeguard these vegetables, many of which are not only nutritious but also climate change resistant.

“The knowledge around these species has also been lost in many traditional communities “Africa is also home to many vegetable species whose wild relatives are endangered and disappearing, largely due to urbanization and climate change, for example the wild relatives of cowpeas which is originally domesticated in Africa have disappeared” said Dr Sognigbe N’Danikou, Scientist, Traditional vegetable conservation & utilization at World Vegetable Center.

Noting that the rescue project is among other things trying to collect seeds of these wild varieties, and conserve them so they can be bred in the future.

Almost 90 percent of the seeds grown in Africa come from farmer-managed seed systems, and if the plan is adequately implemented, seed breeding programs will be stimulated on the continent. Humans have been consuming 7000 plant species for food, but recent studies have indicated that this diversity has been shrinking to 5000.

Dr. Sognigbe said there is need to invest in conservation infrastructures at national levels such that there are functional gene banks that can preserve and replicate what farmers have, so that varieties can be preserved before they are lost.

He said other challenges include weak seed systems, and low technical capacity for vegetable research, seed technology, plant breeding, agronomy, postharvest and processing. It has been indicated that mainstreaming African vegetables into food systems would support achievement of UN SDG#2 (zero hunger).

Actions to support quality seed supply and encourage sustainable use of vegetable biodiversity requires strengthened partnerships among plant genetic resources stakeholders across the continent.

The rescue plan notes that vegetable species and their wild relatives are very poorly conserved both in situ and ex situ, making up less than 10 percent of total global genebank accessions. Which is a major concern, given how many vegetable species there are compared to cereals and other major crop groups.

“Losing this biodiversity means losing options for climate resilience and nutrition security for current and future generations” It is paramount to rescue and conserve this biodiversity before it is too late, and encourage its use in breeding programs and directly in farmers’ fields” reads part of the plan.