Potential of Underutilised Vegetable, Fruits and Nuts Crops to Contribute to Food and Nutritional Security, Income and More Sustainable Production Systems

The United Republic of Tanzania which comprises of the Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar islands is located south of the Equator in East Africa between latitudes 1o – 12o South and longitude 30o – 40o east. It is bounded to the North by Uganda and Kenya, on the East by the Indian Ocean, to the South by Mozambique and Malawi, to the South West by Zambia, and to the West by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. Tanzania is mainly an agrarian society with agriculture, the mainstay of its economy, employing more than 80 percent of the total rural population  and accounting for 26.5 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with over 21% contributed by the crop’s sector. In recent years, Tanzania has attained self sufficiency in food production with annual surpluses, probably a reflection of enhanced capacity for the sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) situated in the context of a series of functioning farming systems.