Value Addition of African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) and their Utilization as Food to Improve Food and Nutrition Security: A Review

ABSTRACT

The objective of this review was to explore the status of value addition, the processing methods and products that have been developed from African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) since 1980–2021 globally. Scholarly literature on AIVs were retrieved from online databases. This information will help product development to identify new product development options to explore. The results revealed that the oldest identified study on value addition of AIVs was published in the year 1993 in South America, while the latest publications were published in 2021 from studies conducted in Africa. In addition, the results reveal that Africa has the greatest diversity of AIVs that are being value added and is leading in the value addition research of leafy indigenous vegetables as compared to the rest of the continents. Unfortunately, the results show that the value addition being done in African continent is still premised on traditional processes such as sun drying, which in most cases negatively impact on food safety and nutrient availability. These results indicate an opportunity for product diversification in Africa as compared to the rest of the continents where there is a wide range of value-added products using advanced food processing techniques and technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• African Indigenous Vegetables
• climate change
• food and nutrition security
• new product development
• processing
• value addition

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to contributions and ideas from colleagues within the African Indigenous Vegetables Project at Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Zimbabwe under [Grant Ref: AIV/2020/03].