Sanju Kunwar, a PhD student from the University of Florida, is on a 2-month internship from 1 July to 31 August 2017 at WorldVeg headquarters. Sanju is working on “Evaluation of Tomato Bacterial Wilt Resistance” under the supervision of Peter Hanson in Tomato Breeding.
Judith Yenoukoume Firmine Ayina Honfoga has been appointed as Research Assistant – Agronomist at the Center’s new office for West and Central Africa - Coastal & Humid Regions in Cotonou, Benin. She holds an MSc in Applied Plant Biology from Abomey-Calavi University, Benin. Judith previously worked in a cowpea pest control program at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Nithya Gowdru Vishwanath, Postdoctoral Scientist - Agricultural Economics and CIM Returning Expert, joined the Center on 18 July 2017 for a two-year term in the Hyderabad office. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Humboldt University in Berlin. Nithya is working on the BMZ-funded "Resist, Detect, Protect" project to characterize smallholder tomato and chili pepper systems in Bangladesh and India to identify suitable impact pathways for insect resistant varieties and pest management practices. She will also work on a mungbean adoption study for India and support the GIZ-funded Green Innovation project.
Hailey Hampton, of Darlington, Idaho, USA is a 2017 Borlaug/Ruan International intern who elected to spend eight weeks at WorldVeg headquarters this summer. The Borlaug-Ruan International Internship provides exceptional high school students with the opportunity to work with world-renowned scientists and policymakers at leading research centers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
The Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) organized a field day on integrated pest management (IPM) under WorldVeg’s Attraction in Action project, funded by BMZ/GIZ.
Impressed by what he learned from a prior visit with the WorldVeg team, the President of Cameroon asked ten parliamentarians from the north and far north regions of the country to visit WorldVeg activities in Yaoundé on July 7.
Success from vegetable farming can come only if farmers know where the markets are, have sufficient skills to manage their crops well, and are willing to work with other players in the value chain such as traders, input suppliers, and transporters.
In Manyara, Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Tanga regions of Tanzania, WorldVeg is working with local communities to build family solar dryers for vegetables. The work, supported by the Amsterdam Initiative Against Malnutrition (AIM), provides people with the means to process vegetables for later use—and to explore the production of new food products to extend the vegetable value chain.
After demonstration gardens and seedling nurseries were established in Bambi and Mzuri villages in Zanzibar in June 2017, members of the WorldVeg Homegarden Scaling Project funded by USAID returned in July to assist farmers and community-based trainers with transplanting seedlings.
Field days offer excellent opportunities for farmers to share their experiences, sharpen their skills, and learn firsthand about new agricultural technologies.