The Bambara groundnut and the millets.
We have said much about millets, here is for you to think of Bambara groundnuts.
How to revive it ?
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Bambara groundnut is one of Africa’s most resilient crops: a drought-tolerant, nitrogen-fixing, complete-protein legume cultivated for more than a thousand years across West Africa. It grows in poor soils, survives low rainfall, stores for years without refrigeration, and provides all nine essential amino acids. Yet despite its nutritional power and its role in traditional African food systems, it was pushed aside during colonial agricultural expansion. British and French agricultural departments documented its benefits in the early 20th century — from soil restoration to protein density — but prioritized peanuts and cotton for export markets instead. This documentary explores the true history of Bambara groundnut: • its deep cultural roots among the Bambara, Hausa, and other West African communities • its role in African polyculture farming systems • its ability to boost millet and sorghum yields through natural nitrogen fixation • its long-term storage properties that made it a vital food-security crop • its nutritional strength compared to soybeans, peanuts, and other commercial legumes • the colonial-era decisions that reclassified it as a “subsistence crop” despite scientific evidence • how industrial agriculture sidelined crops that required no fertilizer, no pesticides, and no seed purchases • modern research from Ghana, Botswana, and international universities confirming its climate resilience Today, Bambara groundnut is recognized as a “neglected and underutilized crop,” despite thriving precisely in the harsh dryland conditions that threaten many modern staples. It remains central in smallholder farming systems maintained largely by women across the Sahel and continues to show extraordinary potential for climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable nutrition, and African food sovereignty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigna_subterranea
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