Pigeonpea solution to world hunger?

Scientists have cracked the genetic code of the humble pigeonpea – known as ‘poor people’s meat’ because of its high protein content – making it the potential key to helping feed the world, according to experts meeting next week at the World Agricultural Forum Congress 2011 in Brussels.

Following years of analysis by a global research partnership, scientists say the legume is set to join the world’s league of food crops, to provide a cheap source of food in regions ravaged by famine and hunger.

“The mapping of the pigeonpea genome is a major breakthrough,” says William Dar, director general of the International Crops Research Institute. “Now that the world is faced with hunger and famine, particularly in the Horn of Africa brought about by the worst drought for decades, this is vital to providing a solution to poverty and hunger.”