**5. Conclusions**

*S. aethiopicum*, although an underutilized crop species, is a very important vegetable that can contribute to improving food security and provide sustainable productions. Since fruits are culinarily and aesthetically attractive, farmers can export dried or canned fruits to European or Asian countries as an alternative food or garnish. Alongside its agricultural importance and ornamental value, African eggplant also has pharmaceutical uses. The crop is dense in secondary metabolites, which can be used in medicine and in crop protection. Cultivating this plant species should be a better business for local farmers to sell these products to a chemical company that can start investigations on natural medicines and pesticide. In order to increase the consumption and cultivation of this vegetable, the vital genetic resource should receive much research attention and improvement. In vitro and ex situ conservation of the plant's genetic resource should be maintained, as well as a genomic resource database created to store the crop's sequenced genome information. Currently, the crop faces huge postharvest losses due to its short shelf life. Fruits are not durable, therefore, they should be quickly dried or processed. Solar drying could be employed as the cheapest drying method, and one can use UV filters if necessary, to protect those precious compounds in the fruits. Breeding regimes for African eggplant should develop fruits that stay longer on the shelf. Furthermore, promoting the use of this vegetable will stimulate dietary diversification among the people in Africa.

**Author Contributions:** K.N.O. gathered the information and prepared the initial draft of the manuscript. M.H. and T.S. developed the concept and revised the final draft of the manuscript. N.A.B.B. assisted with literature search and proofreading of the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), gran<sup>t</sup> number (31870589; 31700525); the Scientific Research Foundation for High-Level Talents of Nanjing Forestry University (SRFNFU) (GXL2017011; GXL2017012); the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data sharing not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
