— Healthier lives, more resilient livelihoods through greater diversity in what we grow and eat —
Our Featured Projects
Engaging women and youth in vegetable production and distribution networks to close the ‘vegetable gap’ and improve livelihoods and nutrition in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Sustainable and climate-smart agricultural and post-harvest practices to increase vegetable consumption in urban and peri-urban areas of West Africa.
Conserve and use African vegetable biodiversity to address malnutrition by increasing the production and consumption of nutritious vegetables.
The World’s Largest Public Vegetable Genebank
The World Vegetable Center genebank maintains a large collection of public domain germplasm for the current and future use of all humankind. We distribute seed samples of our germplasm accessions and advanced breeding lines worldwide.
With more than 65,000 accessions of 456 species from 158 countries, the World Vegetable Center genebank includes globally important vegetables such as tomato, onion, peppers and cabbage as well as more than 10,000 accessions of traditional vegetables.
Each year the Center distributes about 10,000 seed samples to researchers across the globe. Over the past four decades this has led to the release of hundreds of new vegetable varieties with particular impact in developing countries.
WorldVeg’s Global Presence and Impact
Center researchers lead and participate in projects throughout Asia and Africa. We have about 400 staff engaged in this spread of activities, and seek to partner with governments, nongovernmental organizations, universities, research institutes, and the private sector to promote prosperity for the poor and health for all.
Africa
Advocating African Traditional Vegetables at ‘Tanzfood’ 2022 Fair
WorldVeg advocated African traditional Vegetables at TANZFOOD- the annual event for both the food industry and consumers – organized by the expo experts from KILIFAIR Promotions – Moshi/Tanzania.
Tomato Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) demonstrated in Ethiopia!
The WorldVeg Ethiopia office held a field day for personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture, EIAR, Arsi University staff and students, agro-dealers and vegetable farmers to demonstrate the importance of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in tomato production.
Training of Trainers in Central Kenya
V4P&P supports local communities by giving them a solid training on regenerative agricultural practices and business skills.
WorldVeg’s Offices in Africa: 📍 Eastern & Southern Africa Office – 📍 West & Central Africa Office (Dry Regions) – 📍 West & Central Africa Office (Humid Regions)
Asia
Establishing the International Mungbean Improvement Network (IMIN) – Final Phase 1 Report
The final report of the Phase 1 of the International Mungbean Improvement Network (IMIN) has been released this 1st March 2022.
[Podcast] Plant Breeding Stories with Dr Narinder Dhillon
Dr Narinder Dhillon has worked with plant breeding programs around the world and is currently the principal cucurbit breeder at the World Vegetable Center. Dr. Dhillon has a global perspective on solving agricultural issues and [...]
World Vegetable Center sends seed to Korea’s Rural Development Administration
More than 10,000 samples of 59 vegetable species from the WorldVeg genebank in Taiwan duplicated for storage in Korea.
WorldVeg’s Offices in Asia: 📍 Headquarters in Taiwan – 📍 South & Central Asia Office – 📍 East & Southeast Asia Office
Latin America / Caribbean
CARDI and WorldVeg sign MOU to strengthen fruit and vegetable value chains in the Caribbean
Sustainably developing production and distribution of produce to benefit people across the Caribbean.
Media, Events & Networks
Sharing Knowledge for Self-Sufficiency – International Aid in Fruit and Vegetable Production
Taiwan Panorama, February 2022
Pressing for policies that promote “forgotten foods”
Grow Further, 9 December 2021
Cherry tomatoes
KU Research Weekly, 2 December 2021
The fight of mushrooms in farmland. Biotechnology at the service of humanity
Spark Chronicles, 29 November 2021
Asia and Pacific Seed Association (APSA) recognizes 2021’s five ‘most influential’ seed scientists in Asia-Pacific
Seed Quest, 19 November 2021
Un plan mundial para conservar la diversidad de frutas y hortalizas
A en verde, 10 November 2021
European donor delegation discusses partnerships for greater impact delivery in Malian agriculture
ICRISAT Happenings, 15 October 2021
Asia-Pacific Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2022 (online).
22-24 March 2022
Asian Development Bank
11th Organic Seed Growers Conference
4 – 11 February 2022
Organic Seed Commons virtual platform
IHC2022: 31st International Horticultural Congress
14-20 August 2022
Angers, France
Growth Habit
Perspectives to expand your view of vegetables
Do home gardens increase vegetable consumption in Africa?
Analysis of the impact of home gardens in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya shows the importance of carefully identifying local barriers to growing and eating vegetables at home.
Data and farming innovations aid crop pest risk prediction and management
Alert systems can empower farmers and other plant health system stakeholders with low-cost solutions to mitigate risk.
Adding more greens to Africa’s Green Revolution
The vegetable seed sector in sub-Saharan Africa has received little attention in the development agenda. World Vegetable Center scientists teamed up with experts and managers of leading vegetable seed companies in Asia and Africa to define a way forward.
Lower prices, less nutritious food: How COVID-19 is changing the livelihoods and diets of vegetable producers in India
As part of the Nutrition Connect blog series on opportunities for building back better food systems and nutrition, WorldVeg's Jody Harris and Srinivasan Ramasamy explain how COVID-19 has impacted the livelihoods and nutrition of vegetable farmers in India, and what this means for the affordability, availability and consumption of vegetables.
- Global rescue plan needed for fruit and vegetable diversity: UN Food Systems Summit Brief sets out a 10-year plan to conserve precious genetic resources for future food crop options.
Fruits and vegetables for healthy diets: Priorities for food system research and action: UN Food Systems Summit Brief reviews the academic literature on food systems issues.
Leveraging data, models and farming innovation to prevent, prepare for and manage pest incursions: A UN Food Systems Summit / AIRCA paper shows how alert systems can empower farmers and other plant health system stakeholders with low-cost solutions to mitigate risk.
- 2020 Annual Report: Take a look at our R&D activities in the 2020 Annual Report and you’ll discover that WorldVeg’s commitment to healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods has never been stronger!
Vegetables and Climate Change: Pathways to Resilience. With 50 years of experience in adapting vegetable varieties and production systems to the high temperatures and weather extremes in tropical and sub-tropical regions, WorldVeg is well-positioned to develop climate change adaptation and mitigation options along the vegetable value chain.
International vegetable breeding: A strategy to create development impact at scale. How the World Vegetable Center’s breeding research can contribute to realizing the potential of vegetables for healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods.
Tapping the economic and nutritional power of vegetables: Vegetables are essential for food and nutrition security. Vegetable consumption must be nurtured through a combination of supply-side interventions and behavioral change communication.
RECENT RESEARCH
Anitha, S.; Afari-Sefa, V.; Kalumikiza, Z.; Mhango, K.; Mosha, I.; Muzanila, Y.; Mwangwela, A.; Ochieng, J.; Okori, P.; Tsusaka, T. 2022. Improved household nutrition through home-grown produce and consumption of nutritious and healthy products. In: Sustainable agricultural intensification: A handbook for practitioners in East and Southern Africa. / ed. by Bekunda, M.; Hoeschle-Zeledon, I.; Odhong, J.; Wallingford, UK: CABI. p. 119-133.
Ayenan, M.A.T.; Danquah, A.; Hanson, P.; Asante, I.K.; Danquah, E.Y. 2022. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotypes respond differently to long-term dry and humid heat stress. HORTICULTURAE. 8(2):118.
Depenbusch, L.; Schreinemachers, P.; Brown, S.; Roothaert, R. 2022. Impact and distributional effects of a home garden and nutrition intervention in Cambodia. FOOD SECURITY. online.
Fischer, G. 2022. Weaving gender into sustainable intensification interventions. In: Sustainable agricultural intensification: A handbook for practitioners in East and Southern Africa. / ed. by Bekunda, M.; Hoeschle-Zeledon, I.; Odhong, J. ; Wallingford, UK: CABI. p. 1-12.
Kirana, R.; Hermanto, C.; Reflinur; Barchenger, D.W. 2022. Performance of introduced lines based on morphological markers for diversity enrichment of Indonesian chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) varieties. AIP CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS. 2462(1): 020036.
Melomey, L.D.; Ayenan, M.A.T.; Marechera, G.; Abu, P.; Danquah, A.; Tarus, D.; Danquah, E.Y. 2022. Pre-and post-harvest practices and varietal preferences of tomato in Ghana. SUSTAINABILITY. 14(3):1436.
Rubiales, D.; Khazaei, H. 2022. Advances in disease and pest resistance in faba bean. THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS. online.
Sáez, C.; Flores-León, A.; Montero-Pau, J.; Sifres, A.; Dhillon, N.P.S.; López, C.; Picó, B. 2022. RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis provides candidate genes for resistance to tomato leaf curl New Delhi Virus in melon. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE. 12:798858.
Visit HARVEST, the WorldVeg digital document archive:
MY SUCCESS
Vegetable innovations key to unlocking potential of women farmers
In Tanzania, exposure to best farming practices opens new opportunities for enterprising farmer Pendael Paulo.
Tiny, tasty, and packed with nutrients
Ms. Adolat Berdieva produces cherry tomatoes in a low-cost greenhouse she built herself.
Traditional vegetables ease farmers’ finances
Farmer groups pay down debt as demand for healthy traditional vegetables goes up.
Cultivating a taste for traditional African vegetables
Omari Hamisi uses a proven marketing method to develop a customer base for his vegetable crops in Pemba.
WorldVeg’s Donors
Support for World Vegetable Center activities is provided by project donors and the following long-term strategic donors.
Thanks to UK aid from the UK government, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the governments of Taiwan, Germany, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan.
