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Rice bean [Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi and Ohashi], a lesser known pulse among the Asiatic Vigna, has long been considered as a food security crop of small and marginal farmers of Southeast Asia. Considered as a nutritionally rich food and fodder, it is also a source of genes for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance including drought, soil acidity and storage pest. Although it spread from its centre of domestication in the Indo-China region to other parts around the world, it never became an important crop anywhere probably because of agronomic disadvantages. Crop improvement for determinate nature, good yield, less variable seed colour, pleasant organoleptic properties and lower antinutrients is required. Scanning of scientific literature indicates that genetic resources with desirable agronomic and nutritional traits exist within the current collection but are spread across countries. Genomic studies in the species indicate that except for insect resistance and aluminium toxicity tolerance, not much attention has been paid to decipher and utilize other stress tolerance and nutritional quality traits. Collaborative efforts towards improving farming, food, trade value and off-farm conservation of rice bean would not only help marginal farmers but will also help to preserve the yet to be explored genomic resources available in this sturdy pulse.

Food security is the main challenge in the developing world, particularly in the least developed countries. Orphan crops play a vital role in the food security and livelihood of resource-poor farmers and consumers in these countries. Like major crops, there are members of all food types—cereals, legumes, vegetables and root and tuber crops, that are considered to be orphan crops. Despite their huge importance for present and future agriculture, orphan crops have generally received little attention by the global scientific community. Due to this, they produce inferior yields in terms of both quantity and quality. The major bottlenecks affecting the productivity of these crops are little or no selection of improved genetic traits, extreme environmental conditions and unfavorable policy. However, some orphan crops have recently received the attention of the global and national scientific community where advanced research and development initiatives have been launched. These initiatives which implement a variety of genetic and genomic tools targeted major constraints affecting productivity and/or nutritional quality of orphan crops. In this paper, some of these initiatives are briefly described. Here, I provide key suggestions to relevant stakeholders regarding improvement of orphan crops. Concerted efforts are urgently needed to advance the research and development of both the major and orphan crops so that food security will be achieved and ultimately the livelihood of the population will be improved.

Why have our food systems come to rely on such a narrow range of plant species of limited nutritional value? Today three staple crops (rice, maize and wheat) account for more than 50% of calories consumed while we continue to disregard the huge diversity of nutrient-rich plant species utilized by humanity throughout our history. The reasons for this situation are complex and challenging. Creative approaches are required to ensure greater integration of these plant species in agriculture and food systems, and ultimately greater food diversity on our plates and in our diets. This paper presents an overview of the nutritional value of select neglected and underutilized species (NUS) before describing in detail the work undertaken in four mega-diverse countries—Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey—to increase the knowledge, appreciation, awareness and utilization of this nutrient-rich biodiversity encompassing both orphan crops and wild edible plant species. The paper highlights the novel and ingenious approaches these countries have used to prioritize a rich diversity of NUS for healthier diets and improved nutrition, and how this knowledge has been used to mainstream these plant species into production and consumption systems, including linking NUS to school meals and public food procurement, dietary guidelines and sustainable gastronomy. The paper concludes with some perspectives on the way forward for NUS and the community working on them (including researchers, universities and government agencies, national ministries, municipalities, producers, and civil society) in meeting the challenges of malnutrition and environmental sustainability in the 2030 sustainable development context.

Orphan crops play an important role in global food and nutrition security, and may have potential to contribute to sustainable food systems under climate change. Owing to reports of their potential under water scarcity, there is an argument to promote them to sustainably address challenges such as increasing drought and water scarcity, food and nutrition insecurity, environmental degradation, and employment creation under climate change. We conducted a scoping review using online databases to identify the prospects of orphan crops to contribute to (1) sustainable and healthy food systems, (2) genetic resources for future crop improvement, and (3) improving agricultural sustainability under climate change. The review found that, as a product of generations of landrace agriculture, several orphan crops are nutritious, resilient, and adapted to niche marginal agricultural environments. Including such orphan crops in the existing monocultural cropping systems could support more sustainable, nutritious, and diverse food systems in marginalised agricultural environments. Orphan crops also represent a broad gene pool for future crop improvement. The reduction in arable land due to climate change offers opportunities to expand the area under their production. Their suitability to marginal niche and low-input environments offers opportunities for low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from an agro-ecosystems, production, and processing perspective. This, together with their status as a sub-set of agro-biodiversity, offers opportunities to address socio-economic and environmental challenges under climate change. With research and development, and policy to support them, orphan crops could play an important role in climate-change adaptation, especially in the global south.

Out of several thousand known edible plant species, only four crops-rice, wheat, maize and potato provide the largest proportion of daily nutrition to billions of people. While these crops are the primary supplier of carbohydrates, they lack essential amino acids and minerals for a balanced nutrition. The overdependence on only few crops makes the future cropping systems vulnerable to the predicted climate change. Diversifying food resources through incorporation of orphan or minor crops in modern cropping systems is one potential strategy to improve the nutritional security and mitigate the hostile weather patterns. One such crop is buckwheat, which can contribute to the agricultural sustainability as it grows in a wide range of environments, requires relatively low inputs and possess balanced amino acid and micronutrient profiles. Additionally, gluten-free nature of protein and nutraceutical properties of secondary metabolites make the crop a healthy alternative of wheat-based diet in developed countries. Despite enormous potential, efforts for the genetic improvement of buckwheat are considerably lagged behind the conventional cereal crops. With the draft genome sequences in hand, there is a great scope to speed up the progress of genetic improvement of buckwheat. This article outlines the state of the art in buckwheat research and provides concrete perspectives how modern breeding approaches can be implemented to accelerate the genetic gain. Our suggestions are transferable to many minor and underutilized crops to address the issue of limited genetic gain and low productivity.

World agriculture is currently based on very limited numbers of crops, representing a significant risk to food supplies, particularly in the face of climate change which is expected to increase the frequency of extreme events. Minor and underutilised crops can help to develop a more resilient and nutritionally dense future agriculture. Bambara groundnut [Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.[, as a drought resistant, nitrogen-fixing, legume has a role to play. However, as with most underutilised crops, there are significant gaps in knowledge and also negative traits such as ‘hard-to-cook’ and ‘photoperiod sensitivity to pod filling’ associated with the crop which future breeding programmes and processing methods need to tackle, to allow it to make a significant contribution to the well-being of future generations. The current review assesses these factors and also considers what are the next steps towards realising the potential of this crop.

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is a Neolithic plant that has survived millennia of cultivation and has spread over three continents. It is a robust legume crop that is considered one of the most resilient to climate changes and to be survival food during drought-triggered famines. The hardy penetrating root system allows the cultivation of grass pea in various soil types, including marginal ones. As an efficient nitrogen fixer, it meets its own nitrogen requirements and positively benefits subsequent crops. However, already in ancient India and Greece, overconsumption of the seeds and a crippling neurological disorder, later coined neurolathyrism, had been linked. Overemphasis of their suspected toxic properties has led to disregard the plant’s exceptionally positive agronomic properties and dietary advantages. In normal socio-economic and environmental situations, in which grass pea is part of a balanced diet, neurolathyrism is virtually non-existent. The etiology of neurolathyrism has been oversimplified and the deficiency in methionine in the diet has been overlooked. In view of the global climate change, this very adaptable and nutritious orphan crop deserves more attention. Grass pea can become a wonder crop if the double stigma on its reputation as a toxic plant and as food of the poor can be disregarded. Additionally, recent research has exposed the potential of grass pea as a health-promoting nutraceutical. Development of varieties with an improved balance in essential amino acids and diet may be relevant to enhance the nutritional value without jeopardizing the multiple stress tolerance of this promising crop.

Orphan crops are indigenous and invariably grown by small and marginal farmers under subsistence farming systems. These crops, which are common and widely accepted by local farmers, are highly rich in nutritional profile, good for medicinal purposes, and well adapted to suboptimal growing conditions. However, these crops have suffered neglect and abandonment from the scientific community because of very low or no investments in research and genetic improvement. A plausible reason for this is that these crops are not traded internationally at a rate comparable to that of the major food crops such as wheat, rice, and maize. Furthermore, marginal environments have poor soils and are characterized by extreme weather conditions such as heat, erratic rainfall, water deficit, and soil and water salinity, among others. With more frequent extreme climatic events and continued land degradation, orphan crops are beginning to receive renewed attention as alternative crops for dietary diversification in marginal environments and, by extension, across the globe. Increased awareness of good health is also a major contributor to the revived attention accorded to orphan crops. Thus, the introduction, evaluation, and adaptation of outstanding varieties of orphan crops for dietary diversification will contribute not only to sustained food production but also to improved nutrition in marginal environments. In this review article, the concept of orphan crops vis-à-vis marginality and food and nutritional security is defined for a few orphan crops. We also examined recent advances in research involving orphan crops and the potential of these crops for dietary diversification within the context of harsh marginal environments. Recent advances in genomics coupled with molecular breeding will play a pivotal role in improving the genetic potential of orphan crops and help in developing sustainable food systems. We concluded by presenting a potential roadmap to future research engagement and a policy framework with recommendations aimed at facilitating and enhancing the adoption and sustainable production of orphan crops under agriculturally marginal conditions.

Addressing stunting, malnutrition, and hidden hunger through nutritious, economic, and resilient agri-food system is one of the major agricultural challenges of this century. As sub-Saharan Africa harbors a large portion of the severely malnourished population, the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) was established in 2011 with an aim to reduce stunting and malnutrition by providing nutritional security through improving locally adapted nutritious, but neglected, under-researched or orphan African food crops. Foods from these indigenous or naturalized crops and trees are rich in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidant, and are an integral part of the dietary portfolio and cultural, social, and economic milieu of African farmers. Through stakeholder consultations supported by the African Union, 101 African orphan and under-researched crop species were prioritized to mainstream into African agri-food systems. The AOCC, through a network of international–regional–public–private partnerships and collaborations, is generating genomic resources of three types, i.e., reference genome sequence, transcriptome sequence, and re-sequencing 100 accessions/species, using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Furthermore, the University of California Davis African Plant Breeding Academy under the AOCC banner is training 150 lead African scientists to breed high yielding, nutritious, and climate-resilient (biotic and abiotic stress tolerant) crop varieties that meet African farmer and consumer needs. To date, one or more forms of sequence data have been produced for 60 crops. Reference genome sequences for six species have already been published, 6 are almost near completion, and 19 are in progress.

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is an important orphan crop mainly grown by smallholder farmers inIndia and Africa. Here, we present the first pigeon pea pangenome based on 89 accessionsmainly from India and the Philippines, showing that there is significant genetic diversity inPhilippine individuals that is not present in Indian individuals. Annotation of variable genessuggests that they are associated with self-fertilization and response to disease. We identified225 SNPs associated with nine agronomically important traits over three locations and twodifferent time points, with SNPs associated with genes for transcription factors and kinases.These results will lead the way to an improved pigeon pea breeding programme.