Uncovering a revolutionary way of transforming farming systems with forgotten foods
‘Opportunity crops’ are forgotten foods: plant species that were once embedded in local cultures but have since fallen out of favour due to neglect from policy and research.
In this new ERC consolidator grant (2026-2031), we will quantify where and how farming system transformation with opportunity crops can simultaneously tackle pressing health, poverty, and environmental challenges.
We will do so by taking a NEXUS approach placing opportunity crops at the NEXUS between human health, environmental sustainability, and social justice.
We will take a multi-scale and multi-crop approach. First, we will take a broad-scale view across Africa to identify where we synergies or potentially trade-offs of opportunity crops.
Second, we will zoom in on Tanzania and Malawi to uncover how opportunity crops affect human health, poverty, and the environment using three signature cases: 1) Common crop portfolios, 2) Baobab (The tree of life) and 3) Moringa (The miracle tree).
Importantly, we will together with local communities co-create a forward-looking stakeholder toolkit on equitable upscaling of opportunity crops
