Smart Food

Last updated
Smart Food
Formation2013
Founder ICRISAT
Founded at Hyderabad, India
Type Food, Millets, Sorghum, Legumes, Pulses
Headquarters Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Parent organization
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
Website www.smartfood.org

Smart Food is a global initiative led by the ICRISAT, a member of the CGIAR System Organization, and is jointly led with FARA, CORAF, FANRPAN and APAARI. [1]

Contents

History

Smart Food Initiative was launched by ICRISAT in 2013. A major objective under the initiative is to promote the consumption of Millets, Sorghum and Legumes. [2] Ms. Joanna Kane-Potaka, Assistant Director-General, External Relations, ICRISAT, is the executive director of Smart Food Initiative which is currently hosted at ICRISAT. [3]

In January 2019, an Executive Council was established through the signing of Memorandums of Understanding. All Executive Council members have equal voting rights: Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), along with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). [4] In India, Smart Food is co-led by ICAR-IIMR. [5]

First Lady of Niger, Lalla Malika Issoufou became the ambassador of Smart Food in March, 2019. [6]

The Smart Food approach

This initiative leads a campaign to drive demand and to develop value chains for Smart Food crops. To benefit smallholder farmers and poor rural communities via research and outreach programs in countries like East and South Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi), West and Central Africa (Niger, Nigeria, Mali) [7] and Asia Pacific (India, [8] Taiwan, Myanmar). [9] Smart Food initiative envisions Smart Food crops becoming a part of regular diets and the food system by building millets and sorghum. [10] [11] [12]

Smart Food reality TV shows

In 2017, The first Smart Food reality TV show was held in Kenya. The first Smart Food Culinary Challenge was launched with 58 student chefs from 16 culinary institutes across India. The show was held at the Organics and Millets International Trade Fair in Bengaluru in January, 2019. [13]

Awards and recognition

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millet</span> Group of grasses (food grain)

Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finger millet</span> Species of grass

Finger millet is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CGIAR</span> Food security research organisation

CGIAR is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food security, improve human health and nutrition, and sustainable management of natural resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweet sorghum</span> Any of the varieties of the sorghum plant with a high sugar content

Sweet sorghum or sorgo is any of the many varieties of the sorghum grass whose stalks have a high sugar content. Sweet sorghum thrives better under drier and warmer conditions than many other crops and is grown primarily for forage, silage, and syrup production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pearl millet</span> Species of cultivated grass

Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for the crop is in the Sahel zone of West Africa. Recent archaeobotanical research has confirmed the presence of domesticated pearl millet on the Sahel zone of northern Mali between 2500 and 2000 BC. 2023 was the International Year of Millets, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics</span> International research organization

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organisation which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, with several regional centres and research stations . It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organisations convened by the Ford- and the Rockefeller- foundations. Its charter was signed by the FAO and the UNDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crop Trust</span> Germany-based nonprofit organization

The Crop Trust, officially known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is an international nonprofit organization with a secretariat in Bonn, Germany. Its mission is to conserve and make available the world's crop diversity for food security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sorghum</span> Species of grain

Sorghum bicolor, commonly called sorghum and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the grass genus Sorghum cultivated for its grain. The grain is used for food for humans; the plant is used for animal feed and ethanol production. Sorghum originated in Africa, and is now cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical regions.

Florence Muringi Wambugu is a Kenyan plant pathologist and virologist. She is known for her advocacy of using biotechnology to increase food production in Africa.

Rajendra Singh Paroda is an Indian agricultural scientist. He was the former Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Government of India. He was the general president of the Indian Science Congress Association during 2000-2001 and the president of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) from 1998 to 2000. He was elected as the first chairman of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), FAO, Rome from 1998 to 2001. He served as an executive secretary of the Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) based at FAO Regional Office, Bangkok since 1992. He also served as the chairman, board of trustees, ICRISAT, Hyderabad, member of IRRI Board, Los Banos, Philippines and was a member of Advisory Council of Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Canberra, and the Commonwealth Agriculture Bureau International (CABI), London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in Niger</span>

Agriculture is the primary economic activity of a majority of Niger's 17 million citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajeev Kumar Varshney</span> Indian geneticist (born 1973)

Rajeev Kumar Varshney is an Indian agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. Varshney is currently serving as Director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute at Murdoch University, Australia since Feb 2022. Before joining Murdoch University, Australia he served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agriculture R&D institute, for more than 16 years in different scientific and research leadership roles including Research Program Director for three global research programs– Grain Legumes, Genetic Gains and Accelerated Crop Improvement Program. He has the onus of establishing and nurturing the Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB), a globally recognized center for genomics research at ICRISAT that made impacts on improving agriculture and development of human resources in several countries including India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, etc. Varshney holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

The Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) was established in 2006 and compiles and analyzes information to help design and evaluate rural development strategies and monitor the progress of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). CAADP is a program of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which aims to increase the share of national budgets allocated to agriculture.

The International Fertilizer Development Center is a science-based public international organization working to alleviate global hunger by introducing improved agricultural practices and fertilizer technologies to farmers and by linking farmers to markets. Headquartered in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA, the organization has projects in over 25 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services</span>

The African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), is an African organization for strengthening Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS) in Africa. It operates within the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a venture of the African Union in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). AFAAS is an autonomous subsidiary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigeon pea</span> Species of perennial legume

The pigeon pea or toor dal is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae native to the Eastern Hemisphere. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being commonly consumed in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Lindiwe Sibanda Majele (born 1963) is a Zimbabwean professor, scientist, policy advocate and influencer on food systems. She currently serves as director and chair of the ARUA Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems (ARUA-SFS) at the University of Pretoria in Pretoria, South Africa as well as founder and managing director of Linds Agricultural Services Pvt Ltd. in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is currently a board member of Nestlé where she is also a member of the Sustainability Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Center for Biosaline Agriculture</span>

International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) is an international, not-for-profit applied agricultural research center with a unique focus on marginal environments. It identifies, tests and introduces resource-efficient, climate-smart crops and technologies that are best suited to different regions affected by salinity, water scarcity and drought. Through its work, ICBA aims to improve food security, nutrition and livelihoods of resource-poor farming communities around the world.

Rachel Kerina Chikwamba is a Zimbabwean plant geneticist born in 1967. She is in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication. She is an active member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate-smart agriculture</span> System for agricultural productivity

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a set of farming methods that has three main objectives with regards to climate change. Firstly, they use adaptation methods to respond to the effects of climate change on agriculture. Secondly, they aim to increase agricultural productivity and to ensure food security for a growing world population. Thirdly, they try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture as much as possible. Climate-smart agriculture works as an integrated approach to managing land. This approach helps farmers to adapt their agricultural methods to the effects of climate change.

References

  1. Staff Reporter (2 February 2017). "Global recognition for millets project". The Hindu.
  2. "Africa and Asia come together to lead a global initiative to diversify staples". CGIAR.
  3. "Joanna Kane-Potaka: Smart Food". LAUNCH.
  4. "Farming smart foods". @businessline.
  5. "Akshaya Patra launch millets in mid-day meals". www.akshayapatra.org.
  6. "First Lady of Niger Becomes Smart Food Ambassador | APAARI Community". apaari.org.
  7. "Can these super-crops feed Africa?". BBC News.
  8. Worthington, Brett (18 August 2018). "Millet, an ancient grain with the potential to tackle drought, obesity". ABC Rural.
  9. "Smart Food Nutrition Activities Kicks Off in Kenya". International Livestock Research Institute. 9 April 2019.
  10. "What are Millets and Sorghum, and Why Should We Use Them?". Food Tank. 4 April 2018.
  11. "'Smart food of 21st century' for the children". Governance Now. 6 June 2018.
  12. "Smart Food Flyers | APAARI Community".
  13. "Young chefs face-off in first Smart Food Culinary Challenge". YOUNG CHEFS FACE-OFF IN FIRST SMART FOOD CULINARY CHALLENGE.
  14. "Smart Food selected as a global LAUNCH Food innovation". ICRISAT.
  15. "Smart Food: Good for you, the planet and the farmer". SDG2 Advocacy Hub.