Dr. Seloame Tatu Nyaku, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Crop Science, University of Ghana (UG), Legon is leading a project on pigeon pea for healthier African diets. This project is being proposed for a holistic and innovative value chain framework to be tested using multi-stakeholder, participatory, inter-disciplinary, pro-poor gender- and nutrition-sensitive approaches. Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), is a perennial leguminous crop which usually serves as grain, vegetable, animal feed, green manure, and firewood. This crop is among the best drought-resistant legumes, and is often the only grain plant which provides some grain yield during drought periods. 

Pigeon pea has the potential to become food of the future in Africa and there is the need for this crop to be integrated into existing agricultural research programmes. There is however, an urgent need to tap into indigenous knowledge that exists within farming communities. Dr. Nyaku recognized the need for a holistic framework, aimed at developing new methods, approaches and tools to address issues across the inter-related segments of the value chain of this crop, and to bridge the gap between conservation and use.

This project according to Dr. Nyaku will link aspects such as genetic diversity, selection, cultivation, harvesting, value addition, marketing, and final use of the crop, Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Huth), with the goal to contribute to conservation, better incomes, and improved nutrition and strengthened livelihood resilience. Additionally, this project aims to contribute to a high conservation of the selected crop, and its associated indigenous knowledge, through promoting wider use of their diversity by value chain actors, adoption of best cultivation practices, development of improved varieties, and dissemination of high-quality seed. 

This holistic and innovative approach being proposed by Dr. Nyaku, once undertaken will provide an effective strategy to enhance the use of Pigeon pea, for conservation and livelihood benefits and will enhance attainment of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 3, and 13.