Fonio (Digitaria exilis) domestication
Domesticación del fonio (Digitaria exilis)
- Date
- prehistoria (sin datación firme) · confidence low
- Place
- Upper Niger savanna, Mali
- Credited to
- Farmers of the West African savanna
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Fonio is the smallest of the millets and was domesticated in the West African savanna from a wild Digitaria. It tolerates poor soils and matures in about six to eight weeks, making it a famine-reserve cereal.
There are no firm archaeobotanical dates: early remains are scarce and late, and genetic studies point to a single domestication in West Africa without a precise date. The year is a very broad estimate.
What it led to
- a short-cycle cereal that covers the lean period before the main harvest
- a staple of several savanna peoples' cuisine, including the Dogon
- present-day revival as a drought-resistant crop