400 Foods Lab
The 400 Foods Lab is a food identification and research program on the 400 high value agricultural products grown in West and Central African countries that most do not know how to use, yet which have a multitude of international industrial and economic applications. Healthy Choice MPCS found that many of these agricultural products are not commonly known because of a focus on tribal knowledge and lack of access to international nomenclature. For example, an agricultural product sold in Lagos markets is known by most Yoruba speakers exclusively as an ingredient in traditional medicine yet the same item is known by Igbo and Ijaw speakers exclusively as an ingredient for soup, meanwhile the same agricultural item for all intents and purposes does not exist to most Hausa speakers, depriving most people in the country access to the international wealth of applications of their agricultural resources. The 400 Foods Lab catalogues all of the agricultural products with their respective local and international names for easier market access and application for a variety of uses in manufacturing, trade and export.
Through the 400 Foods Lab, Healthy Choice MPCS has worked for the past several years to compile data and conduct research for a mass education program designed to highlight these 400 agricultural products, their names in each language including English as well as their international industrial uses, all to aid the growth and knowledge base of SME’s and youth in their pursuit for entrepreneurial opportunities utilizing available agricultural resources.
Findings from the 400 Foods Lab are slated for mass education programs in development, including a documentary, handbook and public training syllabus. We hope you will join us.
