FEED THE FUTURE INNOVATION LAB FOR
LEGUME SYSTEMS RESEARCH
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The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Legume Systems Research fosters dynamic, profitable, and environmentally sustainable approaches that contribute to resilience, productivity, and better nutrition and economic opportunities. The lab is managed by Michigan State University.
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From the Management Office
Annual Report Now Available
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The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Legume Systems Research has recently released our annual report.
The report highlights program activity from October 2018 through September 2019. It features updates on research projects, including summaries of the six initial activity projects as well as newly funded research and collaborations.
Learn all about the Legume Systems Innovation Lab by clicking the button below.
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From Our Researchers
Cowpea: a strategic crop in the Sahel
"While nothing, including millet our main cereal is not yet mature in the field, and hunger is roaming the village like a hyena around a herd of goats; cowpea, an early crop, gives women the chance to harvesting kgs to gain a small amount of money to solve personal needs and ensure a daily meal for the family,"
Aliou Faye
Aliou is a legume researcher with CERRAS, Center of Excellence on Dry Cereal and their cropping system of ISRA, Senegal and legume lab project collaborator working with Zach Stewart, Kansas State University. He is commenting on the importance of the recent introduction of early cowpea varieties and their impact in the Sahel.
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Announcing SAWBO RAPID
USAID funded project to address COVID-19 education and outreach
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In a time of crisis, how do we protect our health and safety, safely store our food, plant our fields, care for livestock, or conduct the daily business of life? The Coronavirus has touched every corner of the globe forever changing the way we live. An immediate need exists for global information dissemination on mitigating COVID-19’s impacts.
USAID, through the Feed the Future initiative, recently awarded a grant to
Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO)
to launch the Feed the Future SAWBO Responsive-Adaptive-Participatory Information Dissemination Scaling Program (SAWBO RAPID), an educational intervention program to disseminate crucial information related to COVID-19’s secondary economic impacts, including disruption to trade, supply chains and markets.
SAWBO RAPID will ensure that important COVID-19 information will be delivered across borders, cultures and literacy levels by quickly developing educational animations in local languages and using virtual dissemination platforms to reach remote and marginalized communities.
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The SAWBO RAPID project is led by Michigan State University researchers and is an Associate Award of the Legume Systems Innovation Lab awarded by USAID/Washington.
Read more about the project
here.
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From the Field
Legumes play major role in food aid as COVID-19 threatens global food supply
by Thorac Cederstrom, U.S. Dry Bean Council
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After years of steady decline, the number of people facing starvation is on the rise around the world because of the global COVID-19 crisis. In response, humanitarian organizations and farm groups have joined forces to encourage the U.S. government to increase donations of rice, wheat, pulses, and other commodities to meet the spiraling need.
The United Nations' World Food Programme predicts that the COVID-19 pandemic will push some 130 million people “to the brink of starvation,” in the words of WFP Executive Director David Beasley in a recent speech before the United Nations Security Council. That would nearly double the 135 million people already suffering from extreme hunger.
The U.S. is already a major donor of international humanitarian aid, providing more than $2 billion worth of food, both in the form of cash or local food purchases and actual U.S.-grown commodities. The U.S. will supply $1.7 billion through the USDA/USAID Food for Peace program in fiscal 2020.
International humanitarian aid relies heavily on U.S. donations of commodities for emergency response, especially pulses of all sorts including dry beans. Jon Brause, former Director, World Food Programme (WFP) liaison office in Washington, DC has remarked “WFP knows that pulses are a critical part of any emergency food response”, adding that “In fact, pulses are one of the three main components of our standard emergency ration – together with a cereal and an oil.”
Dry beans and other pulses offer humanitarian response organizations good value for money as these commodities ship and store well, have near universal taste appeal, and pack a strong nutritional punch. Beans have a long history in U.S. food aid dating to World Wars I and II as part of the relief package to Europe which may be credited to creating Britain’s love of beans for breakfast. U.S. bean suppliers are active partners with implementing organizations to ensure enough beans are available at the right price.
In the words of Rebecca Bratter, Executive Director of the U.S. Dry Bean Council, “The US dry bean industry takes great pride in providing nutritious dry beans to food insecure nations to help both save and improve the lives of so many. The nutritional profile of dry beans makes them a critical tool to address both hunger and malnutrition in vulnerable populations around the world. Dry beans have long been a preferred commodity for global feeding programs for their taste and nutritional profile per dollar invested.”
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The U.S. Dry Beans Council (USDBC) represents farmers, dealers and companies who grow, handle, export and process dry beans grown in the United States. Learn more by clicking the button below.
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Featured Legume of the Month
Fava Beans
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Fava beans are also known as Broad or Faba beans. They can be found fresh, canned or dried.
A one cup serving of raw Fava beans is 111 calories and contains 9 grams of dietary fiber and 10 grams of protein. They contain vitamins A, C, and B-6 and are a source of Calcium, Iron and Magnesium.
The Fava is similar to the shape and color of a lima bean.
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Cooking with Fava Beans..
Warm Fava Bean Salad
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We found this recipe for Warm Fava Bean Kamut Salad with Pancetta Basil Dressing at the
Pulses.org website.
Kamut is a brand of Khorasan, an ancient wheat from the northeast and parts of Central Asia. It has a firm texture and rich, nutty taste.
Fresh, canned or dried Fava beans can be used in this recipe which also includes pancetta, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and basil.
It is a simple recipe that takes about 30 minutes to prep and 45 minutes to cook. However, you do need to soak the Kamut overnight and if using dried Fava beans you will also need to consider soaking time for them as well.
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For More Information on the
Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Legume Systems Research
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This newsletter is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Feed the Future initiative. The contents are the responsibility of Michigan State University and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
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