Underutilised Crops for a Sustainable Future: Promoting Resilience and Nutrition in Global Food Systems
Abstract
The increasing vulnerabilities of global food systems call for diversified and sustainable strategies. Underutilised Crops (UCs) are receiving renewed attention as promising resources to strengthen production systems and diets, yet their potential remains insufficiently realised due to limited production, commercialisation, policy support, and consumer awareness. This review explores the role of UCs around two main themes: UCs promoting agricultural resilience and UCs promoting nutritional resilience. The first explores their capacity to diversify production, enhance adaptation to climate change and boost agroecosystems. The second highlights their contribution to dietary diversity, improved nutrition, and public health. For both themes, attention is given to the benefits, challenges and barriers associated with their adoption, ranging from agronomic constraints to socio‐economic and cultural factors. The review also highlights the development of innovative tools to valorise their potential and explores possible futures for UCs in global food systems, drawing on insights from four H2020 sister projects: RADIANT, CROPDIVA, BIOVALUE, and DIVINFOOD. By combining opportunities and challenges, this review highlights the strategic role of UCs in building healthy, resilient and sustainable food systems. It aims to contribute to ongoing debates and to stimulate collaborative efforts towards unlocking the full potential of these crops, enabling them to move from the margins to the centre of resilient and inclusive food systems.