A vital partner to develop youth business hubs and more in Africa and Asia

Marco Wopereis, WorldVeg Director General, visited the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on 3 October 2017 in Rome, Italy. He gave a presentation on the Center’s new strategic directions to the Program Management Department and met with IFAD president Gilbert F. Houngbo afterward.

IFAD and WorldVeg already collaborate in Cameroon through the PADFA project on onion seed system development in the northern part of the country. IFAD and WorldVeg agreed to explore opportunities for strengthened collaboration in Africa and Asia—in particular, but not exclusively, in the area of youth vegetable business hubs, and in general by strengthening links between in-country IFAD representatives and WorldVeg regional centers. WorldVeg technical expertise may be solicited in the project design phase for IFAD loans if such loans focus on the development of the vegetable sector, as already done by the World Bank in Cameroon.