A cereal that can be grown with very little water, is fonio the food of the future?

The drought that has left a large part of Europe's soils dry since the beginning of the summer serves as a reminder that water is a precious and exhaustible commodity. The restrictions imposed on farmers lead to serious considerations about the food of tomorrow. One solution could come from West African countries, which, for thousands of years, have been cultivating a cereal that needs almost no water to grow. That grain is fonio.

It's not wheat, it's not barley, and it's not quinoa either. But, it looks quite similar to these grains. Available in white and black varieties, although the latter is less common, this grain has been grown in West Africa for 5,000 years. It is a form of millet and is even one of the first cereals that the continent started to produce. There's therefore nothing new about fonio. According to statistical data from the FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, fonio production amounted to 700,000 tonnes, over an area of 920,000 hectares, in 2019.

Grows without much water

If this cereal is increasingly in the news, it's because it can be grown in arid zones. It can be found in Guinea and Mali, but also in Senegal, Togo and Burkina Faso. Between the Sahara and the tropical regions of Central Africa, fonio likes to grow on shallow, sandy and sometimes rocky soil. Above all, it can be farmed in a climate with very little rainfall. According to data from ICVolunteers, an organization that implements humanitarian, environmental and social programs in West Africa, the cereal can grow in valleys in areas where it does not rain very much -- it survives on runoff water. Fonio is often relied upon when supplies of other cereals are depleted and the next harvest is due. From an agricultural point of view, fonio is also interesting because it can grow on land that is depleted from repeated cultivation.

However, this cereal that the British newspaper The Guardian had already spotted in 2014 and hailed as the new quinoa, does not have only advantages. And this sheds light onto the limits of its production. Before being prepared, fonio needs to be hulled. Traditionally, women use a pestle and mortar to remove the hull and keep only the central part. To shell a kilo of fonio, it takes one hour of work. Three to four poundings are necessary, without counting the need to remove any sand contained in the grains.

According to the Senegalese organization IED Afrique, a hulling machine was developed in 1993, capable of processing five kilos of fonio in just eight minutes. This technological breakthrough has since been further developed, allowing experts to envision fonio as the cereal of the future. In Ghana, chef Fatmata Binta has created a foundation that gives women the opportunity to own land and grow fonio. The chef of Fulani origin, who recently won the Basque Culinary World Prize -- a sort of Nobel Prize for gastronomy -- also cooks this cereal in her pop-up restaurant Fulani Kitchen, which showcases the culinary traditions of the Fulani people, the largest nomadic tribe in Africa.

In the kitchen

Fonio is gluten-free and has a very high amino acid content, particularly in methionine and cystine. Although it is less rich in proteins, its glycemic index is low, which makes it an interesting food option for people suffering from diabetes or obesity. Its advocates also praise its good digestibility. Bland for some, nutty for others, this age-old cereal can be cooked very easily, in the same way as quinoa -- i.e., in a large volume of boiling water. In West Africa, it is customary to transform it into a kind of gruel, or bread, or even beer!

Alternatively, this grain can be used to make porridge, or to revisit tabbouleh, replacing the couscous with fonio, or even to make homemade cereal bars with fonio flour.

In Europe, organic and health food stores are the easiest places to find fonio, although it's not cheap, sometimes selling for around €10 per kilo. It can also be sourced via online organic grocery stores. In the United States, the organic distributor Whole Foods sells the grain.

© Agence France-Presse