International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) initiated the Smart Food being jointly led by the 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). Smart Foods are the foods that fulfill the criteria of being good for humans (healthy and nutritious), good for the plant (environmentally sustainable), and good for the farmers (climate-smart, the potential to increase yields, multiple uses). Millets are the identified Smart Foods proven to tackle micronutrient and nutrition issues. You can find more details on how millets are good for you in this video. The key objective of the Smart Foods initiative is to diversify staples across Africa and Asia.
Smart Food is happy to announce that the UN has declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets. To celebrate and provide more insights on millets, Smart Foods will progressively release the presentations and the panel discussions from the two-day FoodTec conference held at the end of last year on “Food Trends, Opportunities and Driving Markets for Smart Food.” Details on upcoming videos and the list of speakers at the conference can be found here. Make sure to follow the Smart Food Initiative’s Twitter page for more updates on how it operates with different strategies to bring Smart Food into the mainstream.
