Category:Underutilized crops

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Just three crops - maize, wheat and rice - account for about half of the world's consumption of protein and calories. 95% of the world's food needs are provided for by just 30 plants. In stark contrast, there are an estimated 7,500 plants that are considered edible in the world today. This category list plants that could be - and, in many cases, historically have been - used for food on a large scale.

The terms "underutilized crops" or "underutilized species" have come into common use in recent years through the activities of such organizations and conferences as:

• The Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, formed in 2002 by:

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
• International Center for Underutilised Crops (ICUC)
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI)
• Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammnenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ), Germany

• Consultation on the Role of Biodiversity in Achieving the UN Millennium Development Goal
• International Workshop on Underutilized Plant Species

The plants listed here meet three criteria:

• Proven food or energy value
• Proven able to be cultivated. Either:

• The plant has been widely cultivated in the past, or
• The plant is currently cultivated in a limited geographical area

• Currently cultivated less than other comparable plants

There is no implication that these plants should necessarily be cultivated - some have passed into disuse because other plants have taken their place, in many cases for very good reasons. Most of the plants listed here are included on lists of underutilized plant species published by these, and similar organizations.

[edit] See also

• List of useful plants
• Wild plants section of the list of wild foods article
• Subsistence farming
• Food security
• Heirloom plant
• Slow Food