Promoting indigenous foods could improve food security in Southern Africa

Despite an abundance of indigenous vegetables and fruits in Southern Africa, people in the region continue to suffer from food insecurity. It appears that they do not value these foods and their potential to eradicate poverty and hunger, promote health and nutrition, and provide an income for households.

“The consumption of indigenous foods such as Bambara groundnuts, cowpeas, green leafy vegetables, and pumpkin leaves is declining in most Southern African countries. This decline has been attributed to several factors, including the westernisation of African diets, the bitter and discouraging taste of wild vegetables, culture, and the perception that wild vegetables are low-income foods,” say researchers in the Division of Human Nutrition in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

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