3 recent items on fonio (business, feature & research)
Here are three items on fonio: a business announcement; a feature article on fonio in West Africa; and a research article on the histories of the two fonios. Fonio is our millet of themonth in July. 1. "Premium Gold and Terra Ingredients Announce Launch of New Retail Fonio Products in the U.S.," Business Wire, 16 Jun 2026 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260616061897/en/Premium-Gold-and-Te... . The kicker on this news release: "Premium Gold and Terra Ingredients unite to bring responsibly sourced fonio to market with a shared commitment to traceability, farmer partnerships, and regenerative agriculture." Minneapolis-based Terra Ingredients deals in various food and feed products, and is a prominent player in the sourcing and importation of fonio, and "the only large volume fonio supplier." See https://terraingredients.com/fonio/ . Premium Gold is a North Dakota-based agriculture and food processing company specializing in CPG and bulk products (notably golden flax). They plan to market "Natural White Fonio in 10 oz and 2.2 lb stand-up pouches." 2. "Fonio, The Answer to Food Security in West Africa and The Sahel," by Pauline Kuranchie," Human Rights Research Center, 16 June 2026 https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/fonio-the-answer-to-food-security-i... This article features Chef Fatmata Binta Bah, "an award-winning chef, founder of the Fulani Kitchen Foundation, and FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa," who was also one of the chefs spotlighted in the International Year of Millets. It gives an intro to fonio and discusses the cuisine of her ethnic group, the Fulani. (I would treat the characterizations of the Fulani in this article with caution: while there is an indisputable underlying cultural unity, there is also a lot of variation in the local cutures and livelihoods pursued by them.) Fonio, in any event, is present across West Africa, including south of the Sahel, and familiar to many ethnic groups. But it varies in its relative local importance and in the forms it is used (the ways fonio is processed and prepared in say the Akposso area in southern Togo are very different from those in the Futa Jalon in Guinea). The article's title's reference to fonio as "the answer" is reframed more modestly in its text as "one of the answers." Any discussion of food security in the Sahel begins with pearl millet production, which is ubiquitous in the region. Fonio's role has apparently increased in importance over the last 3 decades or so (see graph in article), and that is due in very large part to development and improvement of mechanical means to overcome the bottleneck of dehulling. The article has a very nice glossary at the end. 3. Kaczmarek, T., Cubry, P., Champion, L. et al. "Independent domestication and cultivation histories of two West African indigenous fonio millet crops." Nature Communications 16, 4067 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59454-2 This is a more technical article, getting into the origins of white fonio ("acha"), Digitaria exilis, which is what is marketed internationally, and black fonio ("iburu"), D. iburua, which is local in parts of eastern West Africa. ABSRACT: "Crop evolutionary history and domestication processes are key issues for better conservation and effective use of crop genetic diversity. Black and white fonio (Digitaria iburua and D. exilis, respectively) are two small indigenous grain cereals grown in West Africa. The relationship between these two cultivated crops and wild Digitaria species is still unclear. Here, we analyse whole genome sequences of 265 accessions comprising these two cultivated species and their close wild relatives. We show that white and black fonio were the result of two independent domestications without gene flow. We infer a cultivation expansion that began at the outset of the CE era, coinciding with the earliest discovered archaeological fonio remains in Nigeria. Fonio population sizes declined a few centuries ago, probably due to a combination of several factors, including major social and agricultural changes, intensification of the slave trade and the introduction of new, less labour-intensive crops. The key knowledge and genomic resources outlined here will help to promote and conserve these neglected climate-resilient crops and thereby provide an opportunity to tailor agriculture to the changing world." The full author list FYI & for the benefit of future searches: Thomas Kaczmarek, Philippe Cubry, Louis Champion, Sandrine Causse, Marie Couderc, Julie Orjuela, Edak A. Uyoh, Happiness O. Oselebe, Stephen N. Dachi, Charlotte O. A. Adje, Emmanuel Sekloka, Enoch G. Achigan-Dako, Abdou R. Ibrahim Bio Yerima, Sani Idi Saidou, Yacoubou Bakasso, Baye M. Diop, Mame C. Gueye, Richard Y. Agyare, Joseph Adjebeng-Danquah, Mathieu Gueye, Jan J. Wieringa, Yves Vigouroux, Claire Billot, Adeline Barnaud & Christian Leclerc -- Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance
Two quick follow ups on two of these items about fonio: On the first one - about Terra Ingredients and Gold Premium - one should also note the role of Yolélé in importing fonio. Unlike Terra, Yolélé (hq in Broklyn, NY https://yolele.com/ ) also has its own line of consumer goods. Yolélé has or had an agreement to supply Woodland Gourmet (formerly Wodland Foods; based in Waukegan, Illinois), a competitor of Terra. I believe that Woodland is the source of fonio for Uche Jumbo's Choputa Eats fonio breakfast product https://choputaeats.com/ .There are a few other smaller companies importing and marketing fonio in the US and North America, of which I'd mention Juka's Organic in Santa Monica, California https://jukasorganic.com/ (whose fonio product I have purchased once) and Nafajama in Austin, Texas.https://nafajama.com/ . I hope to map out the supply to market chains for fonio, as an example for understanding markets for other millets. It would be very interesting to compare the importstructures for millets from Africa, India, China, and elsewhere On the second item - about fonio production in West Africa - I came across an interesting 2021 Master's degree "capstone paper" by Luca Byrne Mariotti, then at Cornell University, which sheds more detail on that subject.: "An Analysis of the Commercialization of West African Ancient Grain Fonio: Impacts on Women Empowerment and Food Security." See in particular, Chap. 5, "A Case Study of Fonio," which focuses on the grain's production and commercialization in Senegal. https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/111077/Luca_Byrne-Mariott... . This paper also makes comparisons with markets for teff and quinoa. DO, EL, MI, US NAMA On Tue, Jul 21, 2026 at 10:11 AM Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org> wrote:
Here are three items on fonio: a business announcement; a feature article on fonio in West Africa; and a research article on the histories of the two fonios. Fonio is our millet of themonth in July.
1. "Premium Gold and Terra Ingredients Announce Launch of New Retail Fonio Products in the U.S.," Business Wire, 16 Jun 2026 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260616061897/en/Premium-Gold-and-Te... .
The kicker on this news release: "Premium Gold and Terra Ingredients unite to bring responsibly sourced fonio to market with a shared commitment to traceability, farmer partnerships, and regenerative agriculture."
Minneapolis-based Terra Ingredients deals in various food and feed products, and is a prominent player in the sourcing and importation of fonio, and "the only large volume fonio supplier." See https://terraingredients.com/fonio/ .
Premium Gold is a North Dakota-based agriculture and food processing company specializing in CPG and bulk products (notably golden flax). They plan to market "Natural White Fonio in 10 oz and 2.2 lb stand-up pouches."
2. "Fonio, The Answer to Food Security in West Africa and The Sahel," by Pauline Kuranchie," Human Rights Research Center, 16 June 2026 https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/fonio-the-answer-to-food-security-i...
This article features Chef Fatmata Binta Bah, "an award-winning chef, founder of the Fulani Kitchen Foundation, and FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa," who was also one of the chefs spotlighted in the International Year of Millets. It gives an intro to fonio and discusses the cuisine of her ethnic group, the Fulani. (I would treat the characterizations of the Fulani in this article with caution: while there is an indisputable underlying cultural unity, there is also a lot of variation in the local cutures and livelihoods pursued by them.) Fonio, in any event, is present across West Africa, including south of the Sahel, and familiar to many ethnic groups. But it varies in its relative local importance and in the forms it is used (the ways fonio is processed and prepared in say the Akposso area in southern Togo are very different from those in the Futa Jalon in Guinea).
The article's title's reference to fonio as "the answer" is reframed more modestly in its text as "one of the answers." Any discussion of food security in the Sahel begins with pearl millet production, which is ubiquitous in the region. Fonio's role has apparently increased in importance over the last 3 decades or so (see graph in article), and that is due in very large part to development and improvement of mechanical means to overcome the bottleneck of dehulling.
The article has a very nice glossary at the end.
3. Kaczmarek, T., Cubry, P., Champion, L. et al. "Independent domestication and cultivation histories of two West African indigenous fonio millet crops." Nature Communications 16, 4067 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59454-2
This is a more technical article, getting into the origins of white fonio ("acha"), Digitaria exilis, which is what is marketed internationally, and black fonio ("iburu"), D. iburua, which is local in parts of eastern West Africa.
ABSRACT: "Crop evolutionary history and domestication processes are key issues for better conservation and effective use of crop genetic diversity. Black and white fonio (Digitaria iburua and D. exilis, respectively) are two small indigenous grain cereals grown in West Africa. The relationship between these two cultivated crops and wild Digitaria species is still unclear. Here, we analyse whole genome sequences of 265 accessions comprising these two cultivated species and their close wild relatives. We show that white and black fonio were the result of two independent domestications without gene flow. We infer a cultivation expansion that began at the outset of the CE era, coinciding with the earliest discovered archaeological fonio remains in Nigeria. Fonio population sizes declined a few centuries ago, probably due to a combination of several factors, including major social and agricultural changes, intensification of the slave trade and the introduction of new, less labour-intensive crops. The key knowledge and genomic resources outlined here will help to promote and conserve these neglected climate-resilient crops and thereby provide an opportunity to tailor agriculture to the changing world."
The full author list FYI & for the benefit of future searches: Thomas Kaczmarek, Philippe Cubry, Louis Champion, Sandrine Causse, Marie Couderc, Julie Orjuela, Edak A. Uyoh, Happiness O. Oselebe, Stephen N. Dachi, Charlotte O. A. Adje, Emmanuel Sekloka, Enoch G. Achigan-Dako, Abdou R. Ibrahim Bio Yerima, Sani Idi Saidou, Yacoubou Bakasso, Baye M. Diop, Mame C. Gueye, Richard Y. Agyare, Joseph Adjebeng-Danquah, Mathieu Gueye, Jan J. Wieringa, Yves Vigouroux, Claire Billot, Adeline Barnaud & Christian Leclerc --
Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance
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Don Osborn