A Transborder Indigenous Collaboration on Sustainable Food Innovation. 

Dr. Wan-Yuan Kuo, MSU ART Ambassador, and Senegalese women farmers collaborating on research translation.

Focus Group

Focus group coordinated by Dr. Wan Yuan.

The story began in 2018 when Dr. Wan-Yuan Kuo, Director of the MSU Food Product Development Lab, welcomed Edwin Allan, a Sustainable Food Systems master’s student, into her lab. Edwin was interested in developing value-added food product solutions to address agricultural waste, malnutrition, food insecurity, and poverty—challenges he had witnessed in his home country of Ghana, West Africa. Through an introduction to Aliou Ndiaye, who was then representing Bountifield International in Senegal, they were encouraged to collaborate with smallholder women farmers in the Kaffrine Region of the country.  

Dr. Kuo and Edwin visited several Senegalese farming villages, conducting community focus group discussions on topics including local food system challenges, current farming and food processing techniques and facilities, ingredients of interest and/or underutilization. These conversations focused the team on the remote village of Ndangane and paved the way for the co-development of a nutrition bar incorporating Indigenous plants. In 2022, master’s student Chidimma Ifeh joined the lab and led the co-development of a plant-enriched yogurt beverage. Both products were designed for reliable production, transportation, and sale as value-added goods by the women’s consortium, aiming to improve community nutrition, empower women entrepreneurs, and foster economic growth while mitigating environmental impact.

Dr. Kuo expanded the program to include undergraduate students from MSU’s Food Product Development Lab and design students from MSU’s School of Art. The food science students worked on community-guided product formulation and production. The graphic design students worked on understanding Senegal cultural and translating that visually to product identity and product packaging.  This interdisciplinary project provides MSU students with valuable, real-world, project-based learning opportunities.

Thanks to Mr. Ndiaye promotion of the MSU team’s efforts in Ndangane to the African Development Bank, the village was selected as a site for one of the Bank’s target projects. This led to the groundbreaking of the community’s first food factory in 2023, allowing the group to increase production, bringing food security to a larger community. 

Dr. Wan-Yuan Kuo, Aliou Ndiaye, and participating graduate students presented their collaborative work at an MSU NSF ART event in June of 2024. The team is poised to keep you informed of developments on this project as it progresses.

 

Throughout the ART program, we aim to support Indigenous-led initiatives and create opportunities for Indigenous students to learn about Montana Tribal community experiences from Indigenous leaders, Elders, and community members. 

If you have a project of your own which you think could benefit the NSF ART Team’s support, please get in touch with us! We’re here to help you achieve your own goals. 

 

Have an idea for us? Interested in learning more? Please reach out!