Africa's Food Heritage: Indigenous Crops, Chronic Diseases, and Forgotten Resilience

Across Africa, from Sudan's humar and heglig trees to Zimbabwe's nyemba vines, Kenya's kunde and managu to Ethiopia's komate (Orom.), traditional food plants once sustained communities through drought and famine. These crops were documented in detailed agronomic surveys covering nutrient profiles, yields, ecology, storage and preparation, effectively a blueprint for a self‑reliant food system.

These plants range from “ordinary” fruits like mango (Mangifera indica), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), banana (Musa spp.), papaya (Carica papaya), citrus, guava and avocado to indigenous grains, pulses, vegetables, roots and trees that rarely appear in modern policy documents. This article pulls out a cross‑section of those species, especially the ones most neglected by current policy, to show the scale of what was lost, not to list every plant by name.

Meanwhile, non‑communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cancer now account for about 43% of deaths in Kenya, with the fastest growth in low‑income and rural communities. In Nyamira County in western Kenya, reports describe villages where roughly half of adults live with diabetes or pre‑diabetes, on diets that increasingly resemble globalised supermarket shelves rather than local fields and hedges.

This is not genetic destiny. It is the predictable outcome of corporate capture of food and health policy, the same pattern that once let a tobacco executive boast that “the law was actually drafted by us”, now applied to seeds, fertiliser, trade rules, advertising and retail space.

Moringa and the protein–vitamin hedges

Moringa oleifera (moringa) grows across East and West Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. Its leaves contain roughly 5–10% protein, unusually rich in methionine, and are very rich in vitamins A and C, calcium and iron; pods add more protein and vitamin C; seeds carry about 34% protein and up to ~42% oil, dominated by oleic acid and suitable as a neutral cooking oil.

Communities traditionally used leaves, pods, flowers and shoots as vegetables and relishes; seeds for snacks and oil; bark and roots as medicines for skin, joint and digestive problems. Ecologically, moringa thrives on light, sandy or alluvial soils, even rubbish dumps and eroded banks, tolerates high heat and survives long dry spells, with good management yielding around 10 tonnes of leaves per hectare per year plus hundreds of pods per tree.

Today, extension booklets and retail space prioritise imported spinach, French beans and multivitamins (inputs that must be bought) while this hedge crop is treated as a curiosity or export powder rather than a pillar of household protein and vitamins.

Leafy systems: managu, cowpea, amaranth

African nightshades (managu) – including Solanum americanum, Solanum scabrum and leafy forms of Solanum aethiopicum (Shum and Kumba groups) – are cultivated as vegetables in many Kenyan home gardens and markets. Their leaves provide around 4–5% protein, significant vitamins A and C, and useful calcium, phosphorus and iron; a 1 × 4 m plot with 40 plants of leafy S. aethiopicum can produce 14–16 kg of leaves with repeated harvests over 1–3 months, while fruiting forms can yield about 10 kg of fruit from three plants over 8–10 weeks.

Cowpea leaves (Vigna unguiculata) are harvested alongside the grain but often carry more nutritional weight: fresh leaf yields of 20–60 t/ha have been reported, with leaf protein about two‑thirds of seed protein, calcium seven times higher, iron three times higher and provitamin A and vitamin C hundreds of times higher than in the dry seed. The leaves are eaten fresh or dried into storage balls, while the roots fix nitrogen and improve soil for following cereals.

Leaf and grain amaranths (Amaranthus spp.) provide fibre, protein, vitamins A and C and rich calcium, iron and potassium; grain amaranth can reach around 15% protein, with lysine and methionine levels that outperform most cereals. Vegetable yields of 20–60 t/ha, grain yields of 500–2000 kg/ha and tolerance of temperatures around 25–30 °C make amaranth one of the last greens standing when cabbages fail.

Other widely used leafy vegetables include Celosia (green/red soko), spider plant (Cleome gynandra), Bidens and Commelina species, which are noted for good vitamin A, iron and calcium levels and the ability to perform in poor soils and erratic rainfall. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is highlighted as a succulent leaf that thrives in extreme heat and is often “the only green vegetable available when others have succumbed to high temperatures,” being rich in vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus and iron, with vitamin C highest in young leaves.

Grains and roots that don't need perfect rain

Dryland cereals

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) matures on 250–400–650 mm of rainfall, yields roughly 250–750 kg/ha in low‑input systems and up to about 3 t/ha with good management, and carries 9–16% protein, higher than rice and comparable to or better than many wheats. It tolerates light, sandy, low‑fertility soils far better than maize.

Teff (Eragrostis tef) grain averages about 11% protein, with notable iron, potassium, calcium and phosphorus, and can be stored for years without serious insect damage, acting as a cereal savings account in Ethiopia. Recorded yields range from 300 to 3000 kg/ha, with national averages around 800 kg/ha and experimental yields above 1.7–2.2 t/ha for improved lines, including varieties adapted to ~400 mm rainfall.

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) matures on 200–400 mm of rainfall, yields around 450–2000 kg/ha and grows up to about 2700 m altitude, with grain protein in the 10–18% range and useful B‑vitamins and minerals. For arid and semi‑arid counties, these cereals offer obvious climate‑adaptation options, yet policy and credit overwhelmingly push maize hybrids that demand more water and fertiliser.

Roots, tubers and underground reserves

Beyond cassava and sweet potato, the survey lists regional staples like anchote (Coccinia abyssinica), a tuber native to Ethiopian highlands and long cultivated as both food and medicine, and other Coccinia species, plus bulb‑forming plants in the genus Dipcadi whose bulbs are roasted, eaten raw or cooked as vegetables by communities across Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa.

Species such as Dipcadi glaucum, D. marlothii and D. viride are noted as important foods, with bulbs often left in situ underground until needed, turning the soil itself into low‑tech long‑term storage.

Oil, pulse and “coffee” crops

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) – known as suf in Ethiopia and grown across the Sudan belt – appears both as a food and industrial crop, with seeds containing 20–25% oil, largely unsaturated fatty acids, and dehulled seedcake with 40–60% protein used for livestock feed. Under dryland conditions, yields of 200–1500 kg/ha are typical, with up to 5000 kg/ha possible under irrigation; the crop is drought‑resistant due to deep roots and moderately tolerant of salinity, and also provides flower‑based food colourants and high‑protein seedcake that can improve soils.

Multiple Cassia (now often Senna) species contribute edible leaves, pods, flowers and seeds in arid and semi‑arid areas of Sudan, Ethiopia and West Africa. Young shoots and leaves are cooked as sourish vegetables or teas; seeds of species such as Cassia occidentalis (coffee senna) and C. obtusifolia are roasted as coffee substitutes and eaten in times of scarcity; flowers of C. auriculata and C. occidentalis are cooked as vegetables in shortage years. Leaves and seeds have well‑balanced protein with lysine, methionine and cystine, and are rich in vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus and iron.

Trees that carried protein, fat and vitamins

Baobab (Adansonia digitata), widespread in African savannas, produces fruit pulp with about ten times the vitamin C of oranges, along with useful calcium and thiamine; leaves add protein and vitamins A and C with strong calcium and iron figures, and seeds yield oil and high‑protein flour. The tree fruits in the dry season; pulp and leaves can be dried and stored for months.

African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) combines sweet, vitamin‑C‑rich fruit pulp with protein‑ and oil‑rich seeds that, once fermented into a characteristic condiment, keep for years without refrigeration.

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) offers pulp rich in sugars and B‑vitamins, with calcium and phosphorus above orange, high iron and useful vitamin A and C; leaves and flowers serve as vegetables, and seeds carry starch, protein and oil.

Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) seeds contain about 34–44% fat in the whole seed and 45–60% in kernels; desert date (Balanites aegyptiaca) pulp holds 40–70% sugars with protein‑ and oil‑rich seeds; African ebony (Diospyros mespiliformis) fruits are eaten fresh and dried for one to two years as dry‑season food while the tree provides termite‑resistant timber and, in some stands, dark heartwood sold as ebony.

White sapote (Casimiroa edulis), a medium‑sized tree introduced to eastern and southern Africa, bears sweet, custard‑like fruits whose pulp is fairly rich in vitamin C, probably in vitamin A, and similar to banana in carbohydrate and protein content, growing well around 18 °C mean temperature and up to about 2300 m altitude.

Neem (Azadirachta indica), often naturalized in coastal Kenya and throughout West Africa, produces seeds containing around 40% oil, and the seedcake doubles as a nitrogen‑rich fertiliser and soil insect repellent, with 1 kg able to protect roughly 1 ha of crops from termites and similar pests.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale), a major export crop for Tanzania, Mozambique and Côte d'Ivoire, produces kernels holding 35–46% oil and 5–25% protein, and the cashew apple carries about 234–371 mg vitamin C per 100 g (at least five times many citrus fruits) yet is often left to rot.

The kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) produces seeds containing 20–25% oil and about 26% protein, along with good calcium and phosphorus levels. Seeds are roasted and ground into soups or formed into “katong” balls in West Africa, while seedcake serves as stock feed and manure; young leaves and pods are eaten as vegetables in parts of Asia, and the tree yields floss, timber and traditional medicines.

Fruits and “ordinary” crops

The same technical record that profiles moringa, cowpea leaves, managu and baobab also includes a wide belt of “normal” fruits and crops that have quietly slid into export or sugar‑heavy roles: mango, banana, plantain, papaya, pineapple, guava, passionfruit, citrus, avocado, watermelon, plus beans, pigeon peas, lentils, groundnuts and more.

These are part of Africa's food heritage too; the point is not to deny them, but to show that alongside them sits a vast under‑supported cast of leaves, tubers, seeds and trees that could make the difference between fragile and resilient food systems and between escalating NCDs and stabilised health.

Fermentation, storage and knowledge systems

Across cereals, pulses, seeds and vegetables, communities applied fermentation and drying to turn short harvests into multi‑year security. Parkia seeds ferment into a high‑protein, high‑fat product that keeps for years; sorghum and millet into sour porridges and opaque beers; cassava into detoxified fermented foods; vegetables into lactic‑fermented stocks that bridge seasons.

These processes raised or lowered pH, reduced moisture and altered texture in ways that prevented spoilage without plastic or refrigeration, while modern food systems often label them “informal” and privilege ultra‑processed sauces, stock cubes and cold‑chain‑dependent foods that are more profitable but nutritionally weaker.

Corporate capture and a 43% NCD death share

Investigations into legislative histories, trade agreements and industry lobbying show that food, drink, pesticide and packaging companies often help draft health and food laws, shape standards and delay or weaken regulation across African capitals. The result is a policy landscape where:

• Crops that can be patented, standardised and branded receive research funds and marketing support.

• Indigenous crops receive little extension support.

Kenyan health data now attribute around 43% of deaths to NCDs, and stories from places like Nyamira County in western Kenya link this trend to rapid shifts from diverse, high‑fibre, micronutrient‑rich traditional diets towards ultra‑processed, sugar‑ and fat‑dense foods aggressively marketed to low‑income consumers.

The agronomy and nutrition record is clear: this continent did not lack solutions to hunger or NCDs. It stopped funding, protecting and teaching the solutions it already had. 

Deep dive: The 254 Report investigations

• Industry Writes the Law, Government Takes the Credit: Inside Africa's Corporate Capture of Health Policy 

• Why Industries Choose Africa: The Policy Space Is Wide Open for Corporate Exploitation 

• The Invisible Poison in Your Lipstick, Water Bottle and Bread Bag 

• A Voice from Nyamira: Traditional Foods, Modern Diseases and the Fight for Community Health 

• Kenya's Food Crisis: 3 Legislative Pathways to Combat NCDs Killing 43% of Citizens