Niger Seed

An oilseed plant (Guizotia abyssinica) domesticated in the Ethiopian highlands, where it remains an important smallholder oilseed crop grown for the vegetable oil pressed from its small black seeds. It tolerates poor soils and requires little input, making it a practical crop for subsistence farmers in Ethiopia and parts of India, the two countries that account for most world production. Outside its home region niger seed is grown on a smaller scale and widely sold as a component of wild bird feed mixes, a use that has become its most familiar role in North America and Europe.