Africa and Asia come together to lead a global initiative to diversify staples

Leading agriculture organizations from Africa and Asia have joined hands to take on a bold initiative to create a big new industry, with the intent of bringing some Smart Foods back on the plate as major staples. Targeting staples lays the foundation to generate major impacts on health and the agri-food system. The inaugural meeting and signing of agreements by the largest agriculture associations in Africa and Asia took place on 13^th January, 2019.

This culminated in the formation of the Smart Food Executive Council led by – the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), along with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) which set in motion the Smart Food initiative in 2013.

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