Collaboration to Decode Genomes of 'Orphan Crops' in Africa

The US confectionery corporation Mars is planning to work with American and Chinese scientists to sequence and make publicly available the genetic makeup of various 'orphan crops' such as yam, finger millet, tef, groundnut, cassava, and sweet potato.

Dubbed "orphan crops" because they have been ignored by scientists, seed companies and governments, they are staples for up to 250 million smallholder African farmers who depend on them for food security, nutrition and income. However, they are considered of little economic interest to large seed and chemical companies such as Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta, which concentrate on global crops such as maize, rice and soya.

According to Mars Agriculture Director Howard-Yana Shapiro, there is huge potential to develop more resilient and higher-yielding varieties of most orphan crops by combining traditional plant breeding methods with new biotech tools such as 'genetic marking'.