36th Academic Lecture Series organized by the Society for Underutilized Legumes (SUL), a professional network that promotes research, awareness, and utilization of neglected and underutilized legume crops in Africa.
The lecture focused on how underutilized legumes can contribute to:
Improved nutrition and health,
More sustainable food systems,
Agricultural biodiversity,
Climate resilience and food security in Africa.
Dr Florence Adetutu Udofia, Research Assciate, Bioscience Centre, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria Organised by: The Society for Underutilized Legumes (SUL) - 36th Academic Lecture Series
Underutilized legumes are traditional crops that have long been cultivated by local communities but have received limited attention in mainstream research, markets, policies, processing, and consumption. Using Bambara groundnut as a case study, the speaker highlighted that despite growing scientific interest—with hundreds of studies demonstrating its contributions to nutrition, health, climate resilience, food security, and livelihoods—these crops remain largely absent from everyday food systems. This disconnect is particularly concerning in Africa, where hunger, undernutrition, and diet-related diseases such as diabetes and hypertension continue to rise despite the continent's rich biodiversity of nutritious crops. The key challenge is not a lack of evidence about their value, but rather their limited visibility and integration into consumer food choices.
The speaker emphasized that creating demand is the bridge between scientific evidence and actual use. For underutilized legumes to become widely consumed, factors such as availability, affordability, convenience, trust, safety, taste, and cultural acceptance must be addressed. Bambara groundnut, for example, is often difficult to find in markets, seasonal in availability, and requires long cooking times, making it less attractive to modern consumers. Evidence-based health promotion was presented as a powerful tool for increasing demand: community education on the nutritional benefits of Bambara groundnut, practical cooking demonstrations, and guidance on incorporating it into balanced diets led to increased consumption in participating communities. Drawing on the example of Moringa’s successful repositioning from a local traditional crop to a globally recognized health food, the speaker argued that similar efforts in awareness, marketing, processing, and value-chain development could transform underutilized legumes from overlooked crops into desirable and widely consumed foods that contribute to healthier and more sustainable food systems.
Dr Sandra Boatemaa Kushitor, Senior Lecturer, Ensign Global University Ghana, and Lecturer Extraordinary, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
The speaker focused on the role of underutilized legumes in improving dietary diversity and addressing malnutrition in Nigeria, while drawing lessons from experiences in Ghana and South Africa. Citing national health statistics, she noted that high rates of stunting, underweight, and wasting among Nigerian children are closely linked to poor dietary diversity, contributing significantly to child mortality and morbidity. Underutilized legumes offer a practical solution because they are nutrient-dense, affordable, and adaptable to widely consumed foods. The speaker highlighted opportunities to incorporate legumes such as Bambara groundnut into bread, noodles, fortified complementary foods, and other everyday products. Such innovations could improve nutritional quality, increase dietary fibre, lower glycaemic indices, and provide healthier alternatives for children and adults.
To create demand, the speaker emphasized consumer-oriented approaches that connect nutrition with everyday food practices. Examples from Ghana and South Africa demonstrated the value of food demonstrations, involvement of local chefs, technology-based promotion, and recipe development in encouraging adoption. Underutilized legumes can also serve as natural soup and sauce thickeners, reducing reliance on artificial seasonings while enhancing nutritional value. Another promising avenue is the use of legumes in micronutrient powders and supplementary foods for young children, where studies have shown strong acceptance among households and positive perceptions of child health benefits. The speaker concluded that promotion efforts must operate at multiple levels: households need training on preparation and recipes; health facilities can integrate food demonstrations into maternal and child health programmes; and national nutrition policies can support investment in the production, processing, and commercialization of underutilized legumes to strengthen food security and nutrition outcomes.
Drawing from personal experience, they noted that Bambara groundnut can be successfully grown in East Africa and highlighted the need to move beyond traditional uses of the crop. While Bambara is commonly consumed in limited forms, examples from other countries show its wider potential. The speaker pointed to innovations such as Bambara milk being developed in Singapore and South Africa, arguing that demand creation should focus not only on nutrition but also on product innovation, value addition, and new market opportunities. They emphasized that Bambara groundnut’s appeal extends beyond its nutritional qualities to its climate resilience, environmental benefits, and potential as a functional food for growing vegan and vegetarian markets.
At the same time, the speaker cautioned against repeating mistakes seen with other globally promoted crops. While accessing premium and international markets is desirable, African producers must be equipped to capture a fair share of the value generated along the supply chain. Referring to examples such as moringa and quinoa, the speaker warned against a scenario in which increased global demand benefits actors outside Africa while local producers and consumers are marginalized. They stressed the importance of educating farmers, strengthening their bargaining power, and ensuring that commercialization strategies balance export opportunities with local affordability and access. The overall message was that innovation, market development, and equitable value chains should be central to efforts to promote Bambara groundnut and other underutilized legumes.
Key Message
The environmental impact of Bambara groundnut depends less on the crop itself and more on how it is scaled. When grown in diversified agroecological systems, intercropped with other crops, and supported by local value chains, Bambara groundnut can improve soil health, reduce fertilizer use, and strengthen climate resilience. The main environmental risks arise when commercialization leads to monoculture expansion, habitat conversion, loss of genetic diversity, and resource-intensive processing and supply chains. Because Bambara groundnut pods develop underground, harvesting often involves digging up the entire plant, which can disturb soil structure, increase erosion risk, and damage soil organisms if done intensively or on a large scale without proper soil management practices.
For GFAiR's Forgotten Foods agenda, this suggests that promotion of Bambara groundnut should be accompanied by safeguards for agrobiodiversity conservation, sustainable land use, farmer benefit-sharing, and local food security, ensuring that increased demand does not undermine the ecological and social values that make the crop important in the first place.
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