Fonio landraces in West Africa were different for their visual (colour and presence/absence of impurities) and their textural (consistency of cooked grain) charactersitics. We found no meaningful genetic diversity among the 12 landraces in Mali (indicated by the very low polymorphism level of 3.5%) and the proximate composition, iron and zinc content showed no significant differences among landraces. Traditional processing reduced iron (96% reduction) and phytate (75% reduction) content, however, the molar ratio of phytate to iron remained above the critical cut-off of >1 indicating poor iron bioavailability. Zinc concentration was hardly affected by processing and cooking.