Despite being cultivated in several communities in Nigeria, Bambara groundnut, African yam bean, pigeon pea, Kersting’s groundnut and winged bean have been identified as some of the country’s most promising but underutilised legumes.

According to experts, these crops have continued to receive limited research funding, weak policy attention, and minimal commercial investment, among other setbacks.

The President of the Society for Underutilised Legumes (SUL), Dr. Taofeek Tope Adegboyega, who raised the alarm during Agversation, the flagship dialogue series of Farmer Square Africa, themed, ‘Beyond Cowpea and Soybean: Unlocking the Potential of Underutilised Legumes,’  urged governments, researchers, development partners, and private-sector investors to prioritise neglected indigenous legumes that hold immense promise for transforming Africa’s food systems.

Founded by communications and agricultural development advocate, Timilehin Osunde, Farmer Square Africa is a platform dedicated to connecting agricultural research with farmers, policymakers, agribusinesses, young professionals, and the wider public through knowledge sharing, dialogue, and innovation. The platform provides a space for evidence-based conversations that inspire practical solutions to some of Africa’s most pressing agricultural challenges.

Adegboyega explained that many of the legumes contain between 18 and 39 per cent protein, with winged bean ranking among the world’s richest plant-based protein sources. They also provide essential micronutrients such as iron, zinc, and calcium, making them valuable in addressing hidden hunger, child malnutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies.

Beyond household consumption, he said the crops can be processed into bread, noodles, flour, and complementary foods, reducing dependence on imported raw materials, while creating new agribusiness opportunities.

Adegboyega warned that Nigeria’s continued dependence on a few staple crops leaves the country’s food systems increasingly vulnerable to climate change, declining soil fertility, and rising nutritional deficiencies.

“Nigeria possesses one of Africa’s most diverse legume gene pools – drought-tolerant, nitrogen-fixing, nutritionally dense, and culturally significant. Yet these crops remain largely absent from formal research agendas, national budgets, commercial seed systems, and food industry value chains. The reasons are structural, not agronomic,” he said.

According to him, the benefits of underutilised legumes extend beyond nutrition, noting that they have natural ability to fix nitrogen improves soil fertility, reduce fertiliser requirements, and enhance resilience to drought and changing climatic conditions.

He noted that expanding their cultivation and commercialisation could generate employment, strengthen rural livelihoods, empower women farmers who traditionally cultivate many of these crops, and contribute to Nigeria’s import substitution agenda while opening new export opportunities.

Despite their significant potential, several barriers continue to limit widespread adoption and commercialisation. These include poor access to quality seeds, inadequate research investment, pests and diseases, limited processing facilities, weak market systems, poor infrastructure, and policy preferences that continue to favor cereals over legumes.

Adegboyega cautioned that these constraints reinforce one another, creating a cycle in which inadequate research limits improved varieties, discourages commercial investment, and ultimately slows the development of viable value chains.

The session concluded with a call for stronger collaboration among government agencies, research institutions, universities, development partners, food manufacturers, farmer organisations, and the private sector.

Recommendations included increasing dedicated research funding, integrating underutilised legumes into national agricultural development plans, strengthening seed production systems, encouraging food manufacturers to develop legume-based products, and supporting women-led community seed enterprises.

Adegboyega also emphasised the need for stronger partnerships between researchers and industry to transform scientific innovations into commercially viable products that improve livelihoods and strengthen national food systems.

Speaking on the significance of the initiative, the Founder of Farmer Square Africa, Timilehin Osunde, said Agversation was created to make agricultural knowledge more accessible while connecting research with real-world action.

“Africa’s agricultural transformation depends not only on scientific breakthroughs but also on meaningful conversations that bring together researchers, farmers, policymakers, agribusinesses, development partners, and young people. Agversation was established to bridge these communities, amplify practical solutions, and inspire collaborative action that advances sustainable food systems across the continent,” she said.