Neglected and underutilized crops are domesticated plant species used in previous centuries for food, fibre, fodder, oil or medicinal properties, whose domestic and industrial use have been reduced for various reasons. Other terminologies used to describe these crops include traditional, local, alternative, minor, orphan, abandoned, lost, niche, underused or underdeveloped; and in recent trends, are often referred to as forgotten or smart foods. Reduction in use is partially due to supply or consumption constraints, poor shelf life, unrecognized nutritional value, poor consumer awareness, and its reputational perception as famine food ("poor people's food"), which in part, is due to the modernization of agricultural practices. Some crops were so severely neglected that genetic erosion of their genepool resulted in them becoming regarded as lost crops. As the demand for plant and crop attributes changes (reappraisal or discovery of nutritional traits, culinary value, adaptation to climate change, etc.), some previously neglected crops such as oil palm, soybean, and kiwifruit, have overcome such constraints via wider production and use, becoming regarded as globally significant crops. Although large-scale agricultural production options for neglected crops appear to be increasingly exhausted, many species of these crops have the potential to contribute to food security, nutrition, dietary and culinary diversification, health and income generation, as well as the provision of environmental services. Cherimoya and Bambara crops produced in Colombia and Mozambique respectively, aid the local population in food security, allowing them physical and economic access to sufficient food for meeting their dietary needs, even during famine. Overview While just three crops, namely maize, wheat and rice, account for approximately 50% of the world's consumption of calories and protein, about 95% of the world's food needs are provided by just 30 species of plants. In stark contrast, names of crop species compiled as edible, extend to the region of around 12,650. Among these, are neglected and underutilized plants, that could be, and in many cases have been, used for food and other uses on a larger scale, historically. Definition It is difficult to precisely define which attributes make a crop "underutilized", but often they display the following features: Linkage with the cultural heritage of their places of origin Local and traditional crops whose distribution, biology, cultivation and uses are poorly documented Adaptation to specific agroecological niches and marginal land Weak or no formal seed supply systems Traditional uses in localized areas Produced in traditional production systems with little