this is the Agriculture Report.Things may be changing soon for some crops in Africa.A group called the African Orphan Crops Consortium saysthese plants are not getting enough attention.And it thinks they could help ease hungerand improve nutrition on the continent.The consortium opened the African Plant Breeding Academylast year in Nairobi, Kenya.The academy is the result of cooperationamong international organizations.They are hoping to use genetic informationfrom 100 African plants and treesthat researchers have largely ignored,but food scientists saythese crops have lots of possibilities.Howard Yana-Shapiro is a senior fellowat the University of California, Davis.He is also the chief agricultural officerand global director of Plant Science and External Researchfor Mars Incorporated - the candy company.Mr Shapiro says he began thinking about waysto improve nutrition at the local level after seeinghow poor nutrition affects children in Africa and India.He says a woman who does not eat right during her pregnancycan affect the physical and mental health of a baby.These problems, he says, can not be corrected.Mr Shapiro spoke to VOA from Nairobi.He said the African Plant Breeding Academywill work on many different kinds of plants.He says hundreds of African plants have been ignoredbecause they are not economically important in international trade.But food scientists say the plantsstill have value to people in Africa.The African Orphan Crops Consortiumplans to train plant breeders and researchersover a one-year period about the genetics of these crops.The consortium hopes they will produce more foodwith higher nutritional levels.Mr Shapiro says anything researchers learnwill be shared with the world without cost.And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.For more agriculture stories,go to our website 51voa.com,where you can also find transcripts,MP3s and podcasts of our reports.更多听力请访问51voa.com