🌍 At #RomeNutritionWeek2026, the @SchoolMeals_ Coalition network explored how #SchoolMeals can support food systems transformation by improving nutrition, supporting local economies, promoting biodiversity through neglected and underutilized crops & strengthening women's roles across food supply chains. 👇🎙️ Check out key quotes from #Brazil #Finland #Philippines #Kenya alongside @BiovIntCIAT_eng @WFP as they share their experiences. #️⃣ #RNW26 #FutureNutrition @UN_Nutrition

🌱 Chiara Ferraboschi, @BiovIntCIAT_eng, on why neglected and underutilized crops are a powerful entry point for healthier diets, stronger food systems and biodiversity conservation through #SchoolMeals: 🎙️"Neglected and underutilized crops are wild, semi-domesticated or traditional foods that have been largely overlooked by agricultural research, policy and markets. They are more climate-resilient because they are already embedded in local ecosystems and whenever we consume them, we enhance dietary diversity, which leads to healthier diets. In the #Philippines, 22 species of neglected and underutilized crops were prioritized within school meals, including pigeon peas and amaranth, alongside the establishment of more than 30 conservation sites and seed exchanges. In #Brazil, neglected and underutilized crops were mapped across the country, their nutritional composition was analyzed, and this generated a robust body of evidence used by policy-makers to develop the first national policy recognizing those crops, leading to their inclusion in dietary guidelines and school meal procurement programmes. They represent a multiple win-win opportunity in school meal programmes because they enhance diets, results and environments! It is really timely and important to act now, as unfortunately more than 75% of crop diversity has already been lost." 📍 #RNW26 #️⃣#FutureNutrition #RomeNutritionWeek2026 @UN_Nutrition