Projet INCO Fonio

Among traditional cereals, fonio (Digitaria exilis), is considered as the most ancient indigenous West African cereal . In a vast area extending from Senegal to Chad, Fonio supplies to several million people food early in the growing season, and thus fonio consumption could be considered as one of the coping strategies for increasing household food security.

To increase the value of fonio, European Union financed an international research project (INCO ) under the 6th European Union Programme (FP6), in the priority area of “Bio-diverse, bio-safe and value added crops” dealing with food security .

The FONIO project, coordinated by Cirad , involves interdisciplinary research teams from 3 European countries (France, Netherlands and Belgium) and 4 West African countries (Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal). His duration is 3 years and its operative commencement date is the 1/01/2006.

Coordinator
Jean-François CRUZ - Cirad, UMR "Qualisud" (Montpellier - FRANCE)

Scientific officer
Gerasimos APOSTOLATOS - European Commission DG RTD (Brussels - BELGIUM)

N.B: This project has been approved and financially supported by the Commission of the European Communities. It does not necessarily reflect its views and in no way anticipates the Commission’s future policy in this area.

Webmaster and scientific validation: Jean-François Cruz