Underutilised crops represent an important component of Southern Africa’s agro–biodiversity that has potential to contribute to the region’s post–2015 development discourse. We reviewed the potential of underutilised crops with respect to how they can contribute to topical challenges, such as food and nutrition security, human health and well–being, climate change adaptation, the environment, and employment creation in poor rural communities. The fact that underutilised crops are the product of generations of landrace agriculture supports the idea that they are resilient and adapted to the needs of farmers in marginal agricultural environments. In addition, underutilised crops are also seen as offering economic advantages due to their uniqueness, suitability to environments in which they are grown and low input requirements. In certain cases, underutilised crops are associated with specific gender roles with women being seen as particularly significant in their production. Evidence also suggests that the inclusion of underutilised crops in cropping systems contributes to dietary diversity and improved nutrition. In the context of the post–2015 agenda, the potential of underutilised crops to generate income, address food security and their status as a “subset of biodiversity” links with a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressing social, economic and environmental issues.

The emergence of the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has resulted in changes to the way we perceive our natural resources. Stressors such as climate change and population growth have highlighted the fragility of our WEF systems, necessitating integrated solutions across multiple scales. While a number of frameworks and analytical tools have been developed since 2011, a comprehensive WEF nexus tool remains elusive, hindered in part by our limited data and understanding of the interdependencies and connections across the WEF systems. To achieve this, the community of academics, practitioners and policy‐makers invested in WEF nexus research are addressing several critical areas that currently remain as barriers. First, the plurality of scales (e.g., spatial, temporal, institutional, jurisdictional) necessitates a more comprehensive effort to assess interdependencies between water, energy and food, from household to institutional and national levels. Second, and closely related to scale, a lack of available data often hinders our ability to quantify physical stocks and flows of resources. Overcoming these barriers necessitates engaging multiple stakeholders, and using experiences and local insights to better understand nexus dynamics in particular locations or scenarios, and we exemplify this with the inclusion of a UK‐based case study on exploring the nexus in a particular geographical area. We elucidate many challenges that have arisen across nexus research, including the impact of multiple scales in operation, and concomitantly, what impact these scales have on data accessibility. We assess some of the critical frameworks and tools that are applied by nexus researchers and articulate some of the steps required to develop from nexus thinking to an operationalisable concept, with a consistent focus on scale and data availability.

With the growing concerns about the likely implications of climate change, the long term sustainability of conventional agricultural approaches and biodiversity loss have contributed to a growing interest in the potential of the so-called underutilised crops to address food, nutritional, and income security challenges. In support of their wider use, advocates of underutilised crops associate a number of benefits with them. These include agronomic and nutritional benefits such as drought tolerance and micro-nutrient content and the perceived socio-economic benefits of their wider use. It is widely suggested that the adoption of such crops can generate improved agricultural resilience and support nutrition, food and income security. Simultaneously, the adoption of underutilised crops is seen as a means of conserving biodiversity. However, scientific evidence concerning the use of such crops remains extremely limited. Crucially, little research has been undertaken concerning the contribution of such crops to the welfare of producers. This study investigates the socio-economic factors characterising the production of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterrana (L.) Verdc.) in Northern Ghana and the impact of its production on farmers’ welfare. Primary data was collected based on the 2013 farming season, 240 farmers were selected using a multi-stage sampling technique. A treatment effect model, comprising an adoption and a welfare model was estimated. The probability of adopting Bambara groundnut was found to be greater for: unmarried farmers; farmers in larger households; farmers with little or no formal education; and farmers who had no access to credit. The production of Bambara groundnut led to increased household welfare, as measured by the level of household per capita expenditure/consumption. Results suggest that while further research and support for Bambara groundnut production could contribute to addressing high poverty levels in the region, many of the basic assumptions underlying current advocacy of underutilised crops need rigorous empirical verification. Key words: Adoption, underutilised crops, Bambara groundnut, Northern Ghana, treatment effect model, welfare.

The rise of palm oil as the world's most consumed vegetable oil has coincided with exponential growth in palm oil research activity. Bibliometric analysis of research outputs reveals a distinct imbalance in the type of research being undertaken, notably a disproportionate focus on biofuel and engineering topics. Recognizing the expansion of oil palm agriculture across the tropics and the increasing awareness of environmental, social, and economic impacts, we seek to reorientate the existing research agenda toward one that addresses the most fundamental and urgent questions defined by the palm oil stakeholder community. Following consultation with 659 stakeholders from 38 countries, including palm oil growers, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and researchers, the highest priority research questions were identified within 13 themes. The resulting 279 questions, including 26 ranked as top priority, reveal a diversity of environmental and social research challenges facing the industry, ranging from the ecological and ecosystem impacts of production, to the livelihoods of plantation workers and smallholder communities. Analysis of the knowledge type produced from these questions underscores a clear need for fundamental science programmes, and studies that involve the consultation of non-academic stakeholders to develop “transformative” solutions to the oil palm sector. Stakeholders were most aligned in their choice of priority questions across the themes of policy and certification related themes, and differed the most in environmental feedback, technology and smallholder related themes. Our recommendations include improved regional academic leadership and coordination, greater engagement with private and public stakeholders in Africa, and Central and South America, and enhanced collaborative efforts with researchers in the major consuming countries of India and China.