1 - Introduction
1.1 - Why this document
The dangerous narrowing of the portfolio of species upon which global food security and economic growth depend raises important questions on how to best address its broadening in an effective and sustainable way. Can species that are locally important be deployed more widely in national, regional and global agriculture? Are there uses of local crops –current or potential- that can be succesfully enhanced?
How the level of neglect or under-use of locally important crops threaten their genetic base and vice-versa what could be the impacts of increasing use and demand on the maintenance of their genetic diversity and associated knowledge?
These and other issues have been addressed by IPGRI since its inception in 1974 in view of its global crop mandate, but today additional efforts are needed as we witness an increasing erosion of those species left at the margin of research, conservation and economic development.
The greater awareness on the role that “minor crops” play in the livelihood of people around the world is creating new opportunities for the rescue of their resource base. The challenging tasks required to address these goals are calling for a well thought out strategy that would guide IPGRI and its partners in the coming years.
This document has been prepared to meet specifically this need by providing a strategic framework for the deployment of research and development through capacity building to meet this challenge.

1.2 - Background
In human history, 40-100,000 plant species have been regularly used for food, fibers, industrial, cultural and medicinal purposes. At least 7,000 cultivated species are in use today around the world. Over the last five hundred years, with increased contacts between disparate populations and the development of a global trading system, 30 or so crop species have become intensively and widely used and are now the basis of much of the world's agriculture.
The focus on a few widely used species has helped to sustain the explosion in human population over the last two hundred and fifty years, but it has narrowed down dramatically the number of species upon which global food security and in general economic agricultural pursues depends.
With over half of humanity’s caloric and protein needs being met by only three crops -maize, wheat and rice- humankind faces a highly vulnerable situation and an urgent action to promote crop diversification is needed.

The narrowing base of global food security is limiting livelihood options for the rural poor, particularly in marginal areas. Addressing their needs requires that we broaden the focus of research and development to include a much wider range of crop species. Many of these species occupy important niches, adapted to the risky and fragile conditions of rural communities. They have a comparative advantage in marginal lands where they have been selected to withstand stress conditions and contribute to sustainable production with low-cost inputs. They also contribute to the diversity-richness and hence the stability of agro-ecosystems. These species have a strategic role in fragile ecosystems, such as those found in arid and semi-arid lands, in mountains, steppes and tropical forests.

Ethnobotanic surveys indicate that hundreds of such species are still to be found in each country, representing an enormous wealth of agrobiodiversity with potential to contribute to improved incomes, food security and nutrition. However, these locally important species are frequently neglected by science. Lack of attention by research and development has meant that their potential value is underexploited. This neglect status places them in danger of continuing genetic erosion, further restricting development options for the rural poor. Research to increase their value and make them more widely available would broaden their resource base and increase the livelihood options for rural communities.

2 - Setting the scene   top
2.1 - A new awareness on the importance of agro-biodiversity has emerged
The seventies have seen the establishment of a global system for the conservation of plant genetic resources in response to the drawbacks brought about by the green revolution. The spreading of high yielding varieties has contributed to save millions of lives from starvation but paradoxically has caused also the loss of the same genetic diversity that made this process possible. The eighties and nineties have witnessed an increased awareness on genetic erosion and this has led to specific germplasm collecting missions for major crops to fill conservation gaps and save threatened diversity.
Particularly over the last 5 to 10 years, however, there has been an increased realization that conservation and use efforts have been directed to a small fraction of the rich agrobiodiversity used in wild and in cultivation, focusing on few species and within each species on a very narrow component of its gene pool.

Such awareness, has been translated so far into a global commitment for the better management, use and conservation of underutilized and neglected species during the 1996 FAO-sponsored International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (cfr. Activity 12: "Promoting development and commercialization of underutilized crops and species").
In 1999 further recognition has come from the CGIAR through its endorsement of the contribution of these species in food security as well as from the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) which has emphasized their role in raising rural income and combating poverty.
Overseas Development Agencies are also increasingly supportive of initiatives on underutilized and neglected species, examples being the works financed by the Department of Cooperation for Development of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation which have specifically addressed the better conservation and use of these species.

2.2 - What are neglected and underutilized species?
Underutilized and neglected species fall within the broad basket of “minor crops”. Minor crops is however an ambiguous expression (are these crops “minor” in terms of their production when compared with the production of extensively grown crops?, are they "minor" in relation to the area under their cultivation? etc.). IPGRI thus commonly employs the terms underutilized (or underused) and neglect crops. The use of these two terms has the advantage to pinpoint two crucial aspects which are at the core of the status of these species, viz. the degree of attention paid by users and the level of research and conservation efforts spent on them. More precisely:

Neglected crops are those grown primarily in their centres of origin or centres of diversity by traditional farmers, where they are still important for the subsistence of local communities.
Some species may be globally distributed, but tend to occupy special niches in the local ecology and in production and consumption systems.
While these crops continue to be maintained by socio-cultural preferences and use practices, they remain inadequately characterized, and neglected by research and conservation.

Underutilized crops were once more widely grown but are falling into disuse for a variety of agronomic, genetic, economic and cultural factors. Farmers and consumers are using these crops less because they are in some way not competitive with other crop species in the same agricultural environment. The ecogeographic decline of these crops may erode the genetic base and preventing the use of distinctive useful traits in crop adaptation and improvement.

3 - Arguing in favor of neglected and underutilized crops   top
Interest on neglected and underutilized species arises from a variety of socio-economic concerns and needs. However, from an international perspective, emerging global and national attention on neglected and underutilized species originates basically from three major areas of interest:

- Contribution towards food security and better nutrition
Many neglected and underutilized species are nutritionally rich and are adapted to low input agriculture. The erosion of these species can have immediate consequences on the nutritional status and food security of the poor. Wild, semi-domesticated or fully cultivated, these species are important for the well being of local communities. Their enhanced use can bring about better nutrition and fight hidden hunger. For example, the content in Vit. C in the underutilized fruit Barbados cherry -Malpighia glabra- is than ten times higher than in the kiwi fruit -notably very rich in this micro nutrient; the nutritional value of the Himalayan chenopod grains, Chenopodium spp., is superior to that of most major cereals; the content of Vit. A in many underutilized leafy vegetable species used in Sub Sahara Africa is comparatively higher than other well established vegetable crops s.a. spinach. Another example is that of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea), a neglected pulse from Africa, whose seeds are rich in protein (24%) with levels of the essential amino acid methionine higher than that found in most other grain legumes.

- Contribution towards better income for the rural poor
Surveys conducted by IPGRI in Vietnam reveals that income generated by home gardens in that country is comparatively better in those gardens where there is a higher number of food crops grown by farmers. Yet, a great part of the species cultivated in these home gardens belongs to the category of underutilized and neglected crops.
Growing market opportunities for these species may generate additional income to those poor farmers in less favored environments where these crops have comparative advantages over staples or major crops. For example, the use of minor forest products in India is estimated to generate employment to more than 10 million people per year.
The ability of modern technologies to transform crops and other plants into diverse products, to extend their shelf life, to improve their transformation by agro-industries are also new opportunities to strengthen the marketing of these species and their products. To that regard, the greater the extent or types of uses, the better the opportunities for improving the status of underutilized and neglected species: for example, the breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) a multipurpose agro-forestry tree popular across the Pacific and the Caribbean regions, is a typical example of a highly nutritive species whose versatile applications are still largely untapped by the market: immature fruits can be pickled or marinated, boiled mature fruits and ripe ones are used in countless recipes as vegetables or in confectionery for making cakes and desserts; its seeds are eaten roasted, boiled or smashed into puree; timber is used in construction and bark and leaves are popular in traditional medicine; male inflorescence are used as repellent for mosquitoes and fruit and seeds as animal feed.

- Contribution to ecosystem stability
Climate change, degradation of land and water resources have led to a growing interest for crops and species that are adapted to difficult environments (poor soil, degraded vegetation, drought affected land, desert margins, ect.).
Many neglected and underutilized species are recorded to occur wild or under cultivation in these areas. In many instances these species are the only crops that can cope with such harsh environments unfit for other crops, where they can provide sustainable productions. They contribute thus significantly to maintain diversity rich and hence more stable agro-ecosystems. This is the case for example of colocynth (Citrullus colocynthus, a multiple uses cucurbit species indigenous to India) characterized by exceptional soil binding and drought resistance capacities; carob(Ceratonia siliqua, an evergreen leguminous tree of the Mediterranean region used as food, feed and in gum extraction industry, landscaping, afforestation, wind-breaking, ect.) able to grow successfully in prevailing calcareous poor soils and dry habitats and safflower (Carthamus tinctorius, an ancient crop source of edible seed oil and natural colors locally grown in Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean) which holds both drought and salt tolerance traits. Yet, surveys in West Java, Indonesia, reported the presence of more than 230 species present in cropping systems, most of these underutilized, their presence being essential for the healthy maintenance of agro-ecosystems in that region.

4 - Ensuring the resource base of neglected and underutilized species   top
The success of the breeding programs of major crops has depended by and large on the amount of genetic diversity collected during hundreds of germplasm collecting missions: today, more than 6 millions of accessions of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture are stored in ca 300 germplasm collections around the world. Although the number of these mainly ex situ conserved accessions is an impressive one, a close analyses on the type of crops they refer to is rather disappointing: the largest part of these accessions (app. 80 %) belongs in fact to major crops and their close relatives. The remaining 20% (which includes neglected and underutilized crops) refers to crops which are represented -on average- by just 8.2. accessions/per species. Thousands of species, a great part of the plant biodiversity used around the world has in fact never entered a gene bank!,br> As for those species that have been collected and placed in ex situ collections, there are also serious questions as to whether appropriate measures have been taken for their rejuvenation, multiplication and evaluation, in view of the low level of priority that these have been receiving in both international and national conservation efforts so far.

The poor status of underutilized and neglected species conservation is a major bottleneck for their successful improvement and promotion. Efforts should be thus directed towards the better maintenance of their resource base –both through ex situ and in situ conservation methods- so as to allow their development and their sustainable use by present and future generations.

5 - IPGRI’s experience   top
IPGRI has spearheaded, over the last few years, specific activities at national and international level for the better conservation and use of underutilized and neglected species. Its activities on this area cover projects implemented in partnership with national programs of countries from all over the world. As a whole, more than 50 species are being addressed in these efforts, covering a wide range of crops, from fruit trees to root and tuber crops to multipurpose tree species. The following is a summary of this work grouped by main themes:

- Participatory research
> Activities at IPGRI cover anthropological and ethnobotanic research aspects aimed at enhancing the human capacity for the successful promotion of these species. Special attention is paid to community-knowledge base on use, nutrition programs and strengthening of links among primary stakeholders.
- Complementary conservation approaches
Activities in this domain range from the development of community-based systems s.a. home gardens to the establishment of core collections for facilitating maintenance and effective use of those accessions maintained in ex situ gene banks.
- Documentation, dissemination of information and enhancement of capacities
Since its establishment in 1974, IPGRI has produced more than 80 titles of publications dealing specifically with these species, out of more than 500 publications. Particularly significant are those crop monographs (24 so far), developed through a special project financed by Germany, which cover both scientific issues (s.a. taxonomy, biology, crop improvement and conservation needs) as well as knowledge on use and marketing of a number of representative species. List of scientists working on neglected and underutilized species are also produced through the monograph series. All IPGRI publications dealing with this subject can be downloaded from the Internet.
- Fostering synergism at national, regional and international level
A project focusing on underutilized Mediterranean species was succesfully carried out from 1994 to 1998 thanks to the support of the Italian Government. This work and other similar networking initiatives coordinated by IPGRI have contributed to raise the attention of scientists on neglected and underutilized species and promoted greater synergism in research domains so far largely uncovered by national programs.
- Legal and policy frameworks and public awareness
IPGRI is very active in global fora to raise awareness on neglected and underutilized species and the development of systems for the fair share of benefits arising from their use. IPGRI’s contribution to promote these species at the international level include inputs in the development of the FAO’s Global Plan of Action for PGRFA, proposals for an underutilized-species alternative list to include in the FAO‘s International Undertaking on PGR and support to an International Workshop addressing the role of underutilized species in food security.

6 - Partners in a global effort   top
In addition to IPGRI, a number of other organizations and institutions at national and international level are currently also involved in initiatives dealing with neglected and underutilized species.
At the international level these partners include:

FAO [involved inter alia in the Promotion and Development of Non-Wood Forest Products, The International Network on Cactus Pear, The Andean Network on Plant Genetic Resources, The Mediterranean Selected Fruit Inter-Country Network (MESFIN), The Underutilized Tropical Fruits in Asia Networks (UTFANET), The FAO/ICUC Southern and Easter Africa Network on Underutilized crops (SEANUC)], 

The IAEA/FAO - The International Atomic Energy Agency of FAO (coordinating a project addressing the crop improvement of underutilized species for low income deficit countries using irradiation technologies);

ICUC - The International Centre for Underutilized Crops (based in the UK, this Organization was established in 1998 to address ways of increasing the use of underutilized crops for food, medicinal, industrial products and for environmental improvement);

CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomique Méditerrannéennes (involved trough the Network on Identification, Conservation and Use of Wild Plants in the Mediterranean Region (MEDUSA) and in the Working Group on Underutilized Fruit Crops);

EUCARPIA - European Association for Research in Plant Breeding (whose members launched in 1998 a Working Group on underutilized crops);

The CGIAR (in addition to IPGRI other centres are carrying out research activities to address underutilized and neglected species which do not fall within their official mandate - s.a. IITA (The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria) with its work on bambara groundnut or CIP (The International Potato Centre, Lima, Peru) with its work on Andean tuber crops).

GFAR (which is interested to enhance the use of underutilized and neglected crops through the strengthening of the "production chains").

Other international plant genetic resources networks also engaged in these efforts are TROPIGEN(The Tropical Regional Genetic Resources Network);
REMERFI (The Mesoamerican Plant Genetic Resources Network); The PROSEA Foundation (that covers plant genetic resources of South-East Asia), BAMNET (The Bambara International Network), ECP/GR (European Cooperative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks), CACTCN-GR (The Central Asia and Trans-Caucasus Network on Plant Genetic Resources), WANANET (The West Asia and North Africa Network for Plant Genetic Resources), AARINENA (Association of Agricultural Research Institutes in the Near East and North Africa) and The International Lathyrus Network.

7 - A framework for IPGRI’s efforts on neglected and underutilized species   top

• Enhance the conservation through use of plant genetic resources of a wider range of useful species
• Strengthen the work of other actors who are working on the documentation, evaluation, domestication of neglected or underutilized species
• Strengthen research on the choice of species based on strategic factors for conservation, development and food security
• Identify criteria for research, development and conservation actions on neglected and underutilized species that place the conservation and use of these genetic resources in the context of national and global strategies for sustainable agriculture, to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor, and to broaden the bases of food security.

8 - Conclusions   top
This strategy is meant to guide IPGRI and its partners in a very challenging and –in many regards- a relatively new field of research.The document has been developed on the basis of experiences acquired so far and will be improved as the work progresses and more light is shed on how to best tackle the promotion of underutilized and neglected species.
IPGRI is confident that the awareness on the role that these species play for the livelihood of people around the world will continue to raise in the years to come and what may seem an ambitious task today will be at a closer reach tomorrow thanks also to our today’s commitment to move this Agenda forward.