Product Description

Our fonio grains are de-husked, thoroughly hand washed & naturally dried to preserve the most authentic & premium quality fonio. Fonio is a preeminent African superfood that is harvested in the savannas of West Africa. This millet grain is little-known outside of Africa but, like quinoa, the grains are used in porridge and as couscous but is known to be much healthier choice. Fonio is one of the most nutritious of all grains.

Fonio is an annual tropical grass grown in West Africa for its tiny and husked seeds. In this region, fonio grain plays a major role in food security, preventing food shortages as it ripens outstandingly faster than other crops and can be harvested one month before other cereals like maize or millet. An important trait of fonio is its resistance to drought and its adaptation to climate change. Fonio crop residues like straw and chaff are used as fodder and are often sold in markets for this purpose.

Fonio is one of the oldest indigenous cereal of West Africa and its cultivation dates back to ***0 BCE. The main domestication centre of fonio was reported to be the central delta of the River Niger. In the *4th century, in "Voyage to Sudan", Berber explorer Ibn Battûta reported a couscous prepared with "foûni", a grain "which is like mustard seed". In the *9th century, French explorer Ren Caill describes fonio as a small grass species and staple food used to prepare the gruel "tau". In the early *0th century it was reported to grow fast and prevent food shortages.
Fonio is cultivated in West Africa between the 8 and *4°N from the Senegal to Lake Chad. Eastwards it is replaced by the finger millet (Eleusine coracana). Fonio is widely cultivated in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Cost, Nigeria, Benin, and Senegal. In Guinea, it is a staple food in the mountainous regions of Fouta-Djalon. Outside Africa, fonio was introduced in the *5th century in the Dominican Republic where it is valued for its resistance to drought.

Fonio can grow in tropical climate in lowlands where annual rainfall is between **0 and ***0 mm with a marked dry season, and average temperatures ranging from *5 to *0°C. At higher altitudes, in the mountains of Fouta-Djalon at up to ***0 m altitude, fonio is grown where annual rainfall is between ***0 and ***0 mm and temperatures are cooler (*5 to *5 °C during the growing season). Fonio grows in most soils: sandy, loamy, stony and shallow, and even on very poor and infertile soils. It can grow on steep slopes and in wetter areas, commonly along rivers;  Only very clayey soils are less suitable for fonio cultivation. Fonio can grow on acidic soils with high aluminium content that are lethal to other crops.