Enhancing Use

 

The Funding Facility works in close collaboration with genebanks, research institutions, farmer organizations, seed producers, food processors, and development partners to enhance the production, processing, and consumption of underutilized crops. By combining scientific research, participatory on-farm trials, and product development, we ensure that diverse, nutritious crop varieties are accessible to farmers, breeders, processors, and consumers. 

These partnerships enable us to identify opportunities within local agrifood systems, promote adoption of resilient crops, and develop new foods that contribute to healthier, more diverse diets, while supporting sustainable and inclusive agricultural practices.

Generating User-driven Evidence (Tricot) 

The Funding Facility generates high‑quality, user‑driven evidence that strengthens the use of crop diversity, supports climate‑resilient farming and unlocks new value‑chain opportunities. Through tricot (triadic comparison of technology options) experiments partners generate thousands of structured comparisons that reveal which crop varieties perform best agronomically, nutritionally, and economically under real‑world conditions. This methodology allows farmers, value chain actors and consumers to test the diversity of opportunity in real-world conditions and takes into account diverse contexts. This evidence is translated into actionable insights to enhance knowledge on the potential of opportunity crops on farm, in the markets and on consumers' plates. 

Advancing Nutritional Characterization 

Complementary to the tricot experiments, the Funding Facility will generate comprehensive nutritional profiles for opportunity crops. At the initial stage, around 900 samples from national partner genebanks will be analysed. Top-performing accessions will undergo deeper metabolic and bioaccessibility analyses, and additional tests will evaluate how traditional food processing methods influence nutrient retention. These results will be integrated with agronomic and participatory data to identify nutritionally superior accessions and guide decision-making for scaling opportunity crops. All analyses will follow harmonized standards provided by the Periodic Table of Food Initiative to ensure comparability across crops and countries.

Supporting Value Chain Development 

The Funding Facility conducts participatory assessments of opportunity crops within agrifood systems to identify both constraints and untapped potential. These analyses span the entire value chain from seed systems, on‑farm production, processing, trade to consumption. Particular attention is given to the role of food environments in shaping consumer awareness, preferences, and perceptions of opportunity crops and related processed products.

Insights from these value chain assessments directly inform the design of a competitive grant scheme. Through this scheme, the Funding Facility provides funding to key stakeholders across civil society, the public and private sectors, and research institutions to address identified bottlenecks. By supporting a diverse set of interventions, the Funding Facility builds a portfolio through which different approaches to promoting opportunity crops can be tested and scaled.