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Perhaps U.S. farmers in the drought stricken southwest will find a new crop
to grow for us!
Move Over, Quinoa, a New Superfood Grain Is in Town
Clarissa A. León, AlterNet <http://www.alternet.org/authors/clarissa-leon>
| August 11, 2014 1:04 pm | Comments
<http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/11/move-over-quinoa-a-new-superfood-grain-fonio
/> 

For quinoa fanatics tired of eating quinoa burgers, quinoa pasta and quinoa
porridge, fonio may be the answer. It's been called the grain you've never
heard of and yes-it may even knock quinoa out of its throne.
Fonio grains. Credit: fonio-bio.com
Fonio, an ancient West African cereal, closely resembles a type of millet.
It's rich in amino acids like methionine, cysteine and leucine and because
it's low in sugar it's popular among diabetics (some studies show it's an
excellent grain for treating diabetes). It's also high in iron and contains
no gluten. 
New York chef Pierre Thiam is hoping with a few marketing adjustments, fonio
will be as popular as quinoa. Thiam was recently profiled in The Guardian
<http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/09/fonio-quinoa-senegal-africa-ha
rlem-restaurant>  for his efforts to launch fonio into American cooking. In
2009 he published Yolele! Recipes from the Heart of Senegal, and in 2011 he
launched the AfroEats festival to celebrate Senegal's rich food culture. He
hopes he can popularize Senegalese cuisine the way Mario Batali did for
Italian food or Bobby Flay did for Mexican and Southwest cuisine. West
Africans eat fonio for breakfast as porridge, or mix it in with vegetables
like we do with couscous.
While some farmers are trying to grow quinoa
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/11/29/166155875/quinoa-craze-inspires
-north-america-to-start-growing-its-own>  in the U.S., fonio crops in the
U.S. are practically non-existent. Fonio is primarily grown in West African
countries like Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. It's a desert grass
that can resist high heat and desert storms and can be cultivated in poor
soils, making it a great crop to fight hunger in drought-ridden nations. It
requires no pesticides, making it organic as well.
Still there are some who worry a surge in fonio's popularity could cause
problems. In "The Dark Truth Behind The Popular Superfood, Quinoa" Jill
Richardson writes
<http://www.alternet.org/food/quinoa-hot-new-superfood-it-moral-eat-it>
that quinoa's popularity "spawned a growing source of controversy, following
reports that high global quinoa prices put the crop out of reach for the
people who grow it." Tanya Kerrsen, a Bolivia-based researcher for Food
First <http://foodfirst.org/> , told Richardson, "... whichever way you
press the lever (buy more/buy less) there are bound to be negative
consequences, particularly for poor farmers in the Global South."
It's possible fonio could have a similar problem. But Thiam has already
begun the process of importing fonio for mainstream markets by the end of
this year, and says his business is fair trade in the sense that "They trust
me and I trust them."
While Thiam works on bringing fonio to a mainstream consumer base, today's
customers will still need to visit a specialty store specializing in West
African foods or order fonio online.
Although some varieties can grow in a short growing cycle (70-85 days) the
harvesting is labor intensive and can take hours to process by hand, with
women typically carrying the brunt of de-husking fonio. One gram of fonio
contains roughly 2,000 grains. Two hours of work results in roughly 5 pounds
of fonio.
Because the small grain takes hours to harvest by hand, fonio fell out of
favor with African locals for years. Many in the city would instead eat rice
or wheat. Then engineer Sanoussi Diakite invented a de-husking
<http://blog.rolexawards.com/2010/04/more-fonio-less-labour/>  machine in
the 1990s. His invention could de-husk 11 pounds of fonio in eight minutes.
In 2013 <http://allafrica.com/stories/201306102008.html> , he was awarded
the African Innovation Prize for his service. Diakite's machine has provided
jobs to the local economy in terms of making the machine but also in
processing fonio, where in some cases now "demand far outstrips supply."
<http://blog.rolexawards.com/2010/04/more-fonio-less-labour/> 
Regardless of fonio's growth in the natural foods aisle, its potential as a
driver of local economies and a crop that can feed hunger-stricken countries
is paramount. 
The Environmental Development Action in the Third World is attempting to
expand fonio in Sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, the U.S. African Development
Foundation awarded
<http://feedthefuture.gov/article/women-cash-traditional-african-crop-senega
l> a $190,000 grant to Koba Club, a group of female fonio producers who are
"well-positioned to become large-scale agro-processors of pre-cooked fonio
in Senegal's economy."
Other FONIO initiatives can be found with UCODAL
<http://www.watradehub.com/activities/tradewinds/may11/fonio-small-grain-mak
es-big-impact-thanks-success-finance>  and CIRAD
<http://www.agriculturesnetwork.org/magazines/global/valuing-crop-diversity/
fonio-a-small-grain-with-potential> 


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