What if the crops often overlooked today could help build the resilient food systems of tomorrow?
On October 1rst, 2026, more than 110 participants from over 14 countries across Africa, Europe, and Asia gathered online to celebrate the international launch of AgrEcoNUS+, a programme that aims at making Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS), a driver of agroecological transition across Africa.
AgrEcoNUS+, Enhancing value chains and markets of Neglected and Underutilized crop Species to contribute to Agroecological transition in Africa, is a 4-years-programme funded by the European Union and implemented through a consortium led by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), SWISSAID, and CIHEAM Bari. The programme operates in nine countries: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. It aims at strengthening production, value chains and markets for NUS, supporting farmer-managed seed systems, and promoting agroecological practices to contribute to more resilient, sustainable, and sovereign food systems.
The international launch of the programme brought together key speakers from the European Commission; the Director of AICS; the Director of the Production, Markets and Infrastructure Division from IFAD, from the Swiss Agency for Developpment and Cooperation, as well as from AFSA (the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa) and CORAF (Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Développement Agricoles), to discuss the growing role of NUS and agroecology in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, malnutrition, and market shocks. Contributions from speakers highlighted the importance of placing locally adapted crops, farmer knowledge, and inclusive food systems at the centre of Africa’s agricultural transformation.
From CROPS4HD to AgrEcoNUS+: Scaling Up Impact
The AgrEcoNUS+ programme builds on strong foundations of previous successful initiatives from SUSTLIVES and CROPS4HD. Through its work on NUS, farmer-managed seed systems, market development, research, and policy engagement, CROPS4HD phase 1 has demonstrated the potential of combining agroecology and NUS to improve nutrition, strengthen climate resilience, and create economic opportunities for farming communities. Likewise, Hamid El Bilali from CIHEAM Bari, presented the lessons learnt from the SUSTLIVES programme and its contribution to scaling agroecological approaches across the region.
Building on these experiences, AgrEcoNUS+ aims to scale up, out and deep, impact across the continent through collaboration among international, regional, national and local partners, the programme seeks to turn proven local solutions into broader food systems change.
The strong participation in the launch reflect the growing momentum behind NUS as part of the solution to Africa’s food system challenges. National launch events will now follow in several programme countries, and has already started in Zimbabwe (AgrEcoNUS+ launch in Zimbabwe), marking the next step in a collective effort to unlock the potential of agricultural biodiversity for people and the planet.
Watch the international launch recording here: International AgrEcoNUS+ International Launch Conference
Follow AgrEcoNUS+ channel for updates as the programme moves into implementation across the nine partner countries : AgrEcoNUS+ page