113
© The Author(s) 2019
T. S. Rosenstock et al. (eds.), The Climate-Smart Agriculture Papers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92798-5_10
Chapter 10
Delivering Perennial New and Orphan
Crops for Resilient and Nutritious Farming
Systems
Ian K. Dawson, Stepha McMullin, Roeland Kindt, Alice Muchugi,
Prasad Hendre, Jens-Peter B. Lillesø, and Ramni Jamnadass
10.1 Introduction
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has areas of high ‘hidden hunger’ so improving food
nutritional quality is crucial (von Grebmer et al. 2014). One method, that is supported by governments in the region (Covic and Hendricks 2016), is the diversification of food systems. In the context of climate-change-related challenges, this
approach may have significant benefits compared to alternative methods such as
biofortification, as diversity can promote resilience to more variable environmental
conditions that negatively affect individual crops (Ray et al. 2012). Diversity-based
resilience is, for example, possible through mechanisms including risk spreading
and positive stabilising interactions in production (Altieri et al. 2015; for a wider
discussion on diversity–stability relationships see Thibaut and Connolly 2013). One
crop diversification approach recommended for the region is promoting ‘new and
orphan crops’ (NOC) that include many perennial foods. These are novel or traditional crops that—although important to consumers and farmers—have largely
been neglected by researchers and businesses (Dawson et al. 2018b). They are, however, often nutrient-rich and frequently have properties that support their integration
into existing food systems, potentially countering increasing reliance on a narrow
range of calorie-rich but nutritionally limited foods (Khoury et al. 2014).
Despite their apparent potential, analysis of the contributions of perennial NOC
to the resilience of African food systems is limited. In this paper, we help to fill this
I. K. Dawson (*)
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), UN Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya
Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh, UK
S. McMullin · R. Kindt · A. Muchugi · P. Hendre · R. Jamnadass
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), UN Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya
J.-P. B. Lillesø
Forest & Landscape Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
© The Author(s) 2019
T. S. Rosenstock et al. (eds.), The Climate-Smart Agriculture Papers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92798-5_10
Chapter 10
Delivering Perennial New and Orphan
Crops for Resilient and Nutritious Farming
Systems
Ian K. Dawson, Stepha McMullin, Roeland Kindt, Alice Muchugi,
Prasad Hendre, Jens-Peter B. Lillesø, and Ramni Jamnadass
10.1 Introduction
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has areas of high ‘hidden hunger’ so improving food
nutritional quality is crucial (von Grebmer et al. 2014). One method, that is supported by governments in the region (Covic and Hendricks 2016), is the diversification of food systems. In the context of climate-change-related challenges, this
approach may have significant benefits compared to alternative methods such as
biofortification, as diversity can promote resilience to more variable environmental
conditions that negatively affect individual crops (Ray et al. 2012). Diversity-based
resilience is, for example, possible through mechanisms including risk spreading
and positive stabilising interactions in production (Altieri et al. 2015; for a wider
discussion on diversity–stability relationships see Thibaut and Connolly 2013). One
crop diversification approach recommended for the region is promoting ‘new and
orphan crops’ (NOC) that include many perennial foods. These are novel or traditional crops that—although important to consumers and farmers—have largely
been neglected by researchers and businesses (Dawson et al. 2018b). They are, however, often nutrient-rich and frequently have properties that support their integration
into existing food systems, potentially countering increasing reliance on a narrow
range of calorie-rich but nutritionally limited foods (Khoury et al. 2014).
Despite their apparent potential, analysis of the contributions of perennial NOC
to the resilience of African food systems is limited. In this paper, we help to fill this
I. K. Dawson (*)
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), UN Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya
Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh, UK
S. McMullin · R. Kindt · A. Muchugi · P. Hendre · R. Jamnadass
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), UN Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya
J.-P. B. Lillesø
Forest & Landscape Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark