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Digitaria exilis
Also called Fonio; Acha, Hungry Rice, Fonio Millet, White Fonio, Acha, Acha Rice
Fonio is a fast-maturing annual grass cereal grown across West Africa for its tiny, nutritious grains, which are cooked as porridge or couscous. It thrives in hot, semi-arid areas with poor soils and brief, unreliable rains.
Digitaria exilis is a species of grass that is referred to as findi or fundi in areas of Africa such as The Gambia, with the English common names white fonio, fonio millet, hungry rice, and acha rice.
It is the most important of a diverse group of wild and domesticated Digitaria species known as fonio that are harvested in the savannas of West Africa. The grains are very small. It has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable use of the land.
Fonio is one of the ancient African crops, possibly the oldest West African crop as its cultivation seems to have started about 7,000 years ago. The first references to fonio as food are reported from the mid-14th century. D. exilis was originally derived from the wild species D. longiflora.
Significant cultivation is in West Africa from Chad to Cape Verde, south Mali, in western Burkina Faso, eastern Senegal, northern Guinea, north Benin, parts of north central Nigeria such as northern Plateau State, Southern Kaduna, parts of Niger State, Abuja (FCT), Zuru area of Kebbi State, some parts of Nasarawa State and Kogi State, as well as parts of Bauchi State. It is also found in south Niger, where the plant supplies the staple food for several million people. In some regions of Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Nigeria, fonio is the most important or one of the main cereals. White fonio has its main growing region in the highland plateaus of Nigeria, where it is popularly called acha.
Digitaria exilis is an important part of cooking in West Africa, traditionally used for porridges and steamed cooked foods. The species is known to have high levels of carbohydrate and protein. These protein levels are seen with D. exilis being rich in essential amino acids such as methionine compared to other cereals such as wheat, rice and maize. These qualities show that D. exilis could be a good food source, and that if the right characters are chosen, it could turn into a useful crop.
African couchgrass · Raishan · Crabgrass · Digitgrass · Black fonio · Smooth crabgrass · Indian crabgrass · Hairy crabgrass · Crabgrass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Digitaria exilis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
