The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) - www.ipgri.cgiar.org - is supporting the conservation and use of neglected and underutilized crop species.
Through participatory regional programs focusing on a wide range of neglected crops across the world, IPGRI is assessing crops’diversity and conservation status, implementing plant breeding programs to improve varieties and improving marketing.
Neglected and under-utilized crop species (NUS) are those that have been overlooked by scientific research and by development workers, and yet play a crucial role in the food security, income generation and food culture of the rural poor.
Lack of attention has meant that their potential value is under-exploited and places them in danger of continued genetic erosion and ultimately disappearance, further restricting development options for the poor.

The importance of neglected and underutilized species
Global food security has become increasingly dependent on only a handful of crops. Over 50% of the global requirement for proteins and calories are met by just three, maize, wheat and rice; only 150 crops are commercialised on a significant global scale. Yet, ethnobotanic surveys indicate 7,000 plant species across the world across the world are cultivated or harvested from the wild for food. These species:

have a comparative advantage in marginal lands where they have been selected to withstand stress conditions and contribute to sustainable production with low cost contribute to the diversity and hence the stability of agroecosystems, especially fragile ecosystems such as arid and semi-arid lands, mountains, steppes and tropical forests provide a broad portfolio of crops to meet new environmental conditions, new markets and improve global food security