Food Barley in North Africa: state of art and opportunities for development

Abstract

North Africa is facing multiple challenges that threaten food security of their main staple food such as cereals. Being the old basic food cereal of North African countries, barley has shown its prominence for areas with limited resources, for the nutritional security and for the prevention of the century’s diet-related diseases. Based on literature data (from 1921 to 2020) and FAO statistical data (from 1961 to 2019), it was shown that barley is the ancient staple cereal of the North African population and its importance for resource-limited regions. This paper is a detailed analysis about the evolution of food barley in North African countries for the last six decades, focusing on how the trends of different barley elements have been changed and the current opportunities of this resilient crop to be part of the production system and the healthy diet of the North African future generations.

Keywords

• orge alimentaire
• afrique du nord
• état de l’art
• opportunités
• défis