Food Plant Solutions

31/08/2026

Food security is not just about producing more food.

Our food systems are interconnected. What happens in agriculture, the environment, communities, and nutrition can influence one another and understanding these connections is increasingly important as we face climate and social changes.

A recent study using Australia as a case study explored these interconnections through quantitative network analysis, identifying climate change and socio-demographic changes among the key influential drivers of the food system.

For Food Plant Solutions, this broader food-systems perspective is particularly interesting because improving nutrition isn’t only about what is on the plate. It is also about knowledge, agriculture, local food resources and the resilience of the systems that support communities.

How can we better connect the different parts of our food systems to build healthier and more resilient communities?

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12571-026-01702-4.pdf ]

24/08/2026

Approximately 9.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished across 21 countries/territories in 2025.

AND:

266 million people in 47 countries/territories faced high levels of acute food insecurity.

Malnourished mothers = malnourished babies.

Malnourished babies = increased risk of stunting.

Stunting = lifelong physical, cognitive, and economic damage

35,500+ edible plants globally

Every country has 100's, many 1000's of edible plants known to grow in them.

Empowerment through education = informed choices, sustainability, climate-resilient food production, community development.

How? Food Plant Solutions.

17/08/2026

𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭.

In Burundi, Eden Stream Foundation Burundi has translated the Food Plant Solutions field guide, 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖, into Kirundi.

The guide brings together practical information on approximately 40 highly nutritious local food plants, including:
• how to grow and use them
• which parts are edible
• the key nutrients they contain
• why those nutrients matter for human health

Making this information available in a widely understood local language does more than improve access to a publication.
It helps communities make informed decisions about what to grow and eat, supports greater diet diversity, strengthens local capability, and encourages the use of local biodiversity within more climate-resilient food systems.

Praxedis in Zimbabwe captured the significance of this work:
“Transforming complex botanical knowledge into the local language puts life-changing information directly into the hands of the people who need it most.
By championing local, highly nutritious crops, this initiative honours traditional agricultural wisdom while providing a practical, sustainable blueprint to combat malnutrition and boost food security from the ground up.”

This is what locally relevant nutrition knowledge can make possible and why translation is such an important part of turning scientific information into a resource communities can use.

Where could greater access to practical, local food plant knowledge strengthen the work your organisation is already doing?

12/08/2026

Food Plant Solutions is unique because it offers a practical way to help address food insecurity without needing to reinvent the wheel.

FPS is compelling because it:
𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬

The nutritious, climate-resilient food plants already exist in many communities. FPS helps make that knowledge accessible, understandable and usable.

𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲

FPS resources can continue being used in homes, schools, health programs, agriculture projects and community organisations long after they are created.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

It is not just about growing food. FPS resources explain which local plants are nutritious, how they can be grown and used, and why their nutrients matter for human health.

𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

FPS does not replace local organisations or deliver programs on the ground. It equips partners with practical resources they can use within their own work.

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

Because FPS works through a cost-recovery model and does not duplicate local program delivery, funding helps create resources that can be used by multiple partners and communities.

𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐄𝐒𝐆 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬

For businesses, foundations and donors, FPS offers a tangible way to support food security, nutrition, climate resilience, biodiversity, education and community development.

𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞

FPS has resources for 60 countries, a three-year MoU with World Vision International, has presented at a WFP forum in Rome alongside FAO, IFAD and Rotary International, and is already used by partners working in food security and development.

27/07/2026

ESG commitments are measured by the lasting change they create.

Food Plant Solutions offers businesses and organisations a practical way to advance their environmental and social objectives through better nutrition, stronger local capability and more resilient food systems.

We convert extensive food plant science into practical, evidence-based resources that explain:

• which nutritious local plants to grow
• which parts are edible
• how to grow, prepare and use them
• the key nutrients they contain and why they matter

Working through established in-country partners, these resources complement existing health, agriculture, education, and community development programs.

The potential ESG value is significant:

• improved nutrition and food security
• stronger local knowledge and capability
• greater diet diversity and biodiversity
• more climate-resilient food production
• practical knowledge that remains within communities

FPS does not establish parallel programs or impose outside solutions. We equip trusted local organisations with knowledge they can adapt and use within their existing work.

If your organisation is considering partnerships that can advance its ESG objectives and create lasting community benefits, learn more:

https://foodplantsolutions.org/esg/

What makes an ESG partnership genuinely valuable to your organisation?

15/07/2026

𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀. 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲. 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Information only matters when people can access, understand and use it.

Eden Stream Foundation Burundi has translated Food Plant Solutions’ field guide, 'Potentially Important Food Plants of Burundi', into Kirundi, making its practical information accessible to more people across Burundi.

The guide features approximately 40 highly nutritious local food plants, organised by food group. For each plant, it explains:

• how to grow and use it
• which parts are edible
• how those parts can be prepared or used
• the key nutrients it provides

This information helps people make informed choices about what to grow and eat, using nutritious food plants that are already locally available and suited to local conditions.

The translation is particularly important because it enables this knowledge to be used more widely by families, communities, educators, agricultural extension officers and local organisations.

Food Plant Solutions has developed similar country-specific publications for many other countries, with resources available for translation into the languages used by the communities they are intended to support.

What language would make practical food and nutrition information more accessible in the communities where you work?



https://foodplantsolutions.org/country-resources/all-resources/burundi/

13/07/2026

The role of practical nutrition education in strengthening food security and long-term stability.

When communities understand and can make 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 about the nutritious food plants growing around them, 𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲, 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝘀, and 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀, making food not only nourishment, but a stabilising and unifying force.

For organisations investing in food security, community resilience, or sustainable development, Food Plant Solutions (FPS) offers a proven, scalable, and cost-effective way to multiply that impact.

Do you know a food security, nutrition or community resilience project that could benefit from practical FPS resources?

07/07/2026

Food Plant Solutions has been featured in the latest Rotary Great Britain and Ireland magazine, with an article sharing how practical knowledge about local food plants can support better nutrition, stronger food security and more resilient communities.

That matters because food insecurity is not always about a lack of food.

In many communities, nutritious and climate-resilient plants are already growing locally. What is often missing is accessible information about:

• which plants are most nutritious
• how to grow and use them
• the key nutrients they contain
• why those nutrients matter for human health

That is where Food Plant Solutions fits.

We create practical, science-based, plain-language resources that partners can use in their own work to help communities identify, grow and use nutritious local food plants.

Knowledge like this does not disappear when a project ends. It remains in communities, supporting better diets, local capacity, biodiversity and resilience over time.

Thank you to Rotary Great Britain and Ireland for helping share the FPS story.

Links to the article and FPS story are in the comments.

What local food knowledge do you think more communities should have access to?

16/06/2026

Lean.

Practical.

Partner-led.

Food Plant Solutions works on a cost recovery basis.
That is an important part of the model.

We are not a delivery NGO.

We do not go into countries and set up parallel programs.

We do not charge a commercial margin.

What we do is create practical, science-based resources that existing partners can use in the communities where they are already working.

Those resources identify local, nutrient-dense, climate-resilient food plants.

They explain how to grow them, how to use them, what nutrients they contain, and why those nutrients matter for human health.

Cost-recovery: funding a knowledge layer that strengthens food security, nutrition, agriculture, health and education work already happening on the ground.

It's another key difference with the FPS model.

Lean.

Practical.

Partner-led.

And focused on information communities can keep using long after a project ends.



Minderoo Foundation

19/05/2026

The ‘Ask’.

At this time of year, we all see it.
The fundraising campaigns.
The sponsorship requests.
The EOFY appeals.

And truthfully, sometimes it can feel overwhelming.

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that lately. About what makes people choose to support one thing over another.

For us, it comes down to whether the work genuinely matters, whether it's 'real' and whether it leaves something meaningful behind long after the funding is gone.

It's one of the reasons we care so deeply about Food Plant Solutions.

It's not an imported solution or something that only works whilst funding is available.
And it doesn't create dependency.

Proven, practical, science-based educational resources that help communities identify, grow, and use nutritious local food plants in their environment.

Imagine a solution to food insecurity and malnutrition that is simple.

Helping people better understand the food plants already around them.
Helping families understand the nutrients those plants provide and why those nutrients matter for health.
Helping communities build resilience using knowledge they can carry forward themselves.

In a world that often feels increasingly uncertain, practical knowledge matters.

And perhaps that is what makes something worth supporting.

foodplantsolutions.org

Food Plant Solutions fights malnutrition by promoting nutrient-dense, climate-resilient edible plants, empowering communities with sustainable food security solutions.