— 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 65,152 accessions encompassing germplasm of 133 genera and 330 species from 155 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
Seeds4Soils – Improving climate resilience in Madagascar by regenerating soils with agrobiodiversity
Seeds4Soils – Improving climate resilience in Madagascar by regenerating soils with agrobiodiversity The new three-year project (2024-2027) aims to regenerate agricultural soils and increase climate resilience of vulnerable farming communities in Madagascar by exploiting [...]
WorldVeg, committed to the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soil (VACS) initiative
WorldVeg, committed to the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soil (VACS) initiative The Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS) launched on 30 January 2023, marks a pivotal moment in the journey towards climate [...]
Strengthening skills for producing high quality vegetable seeds in Djibouti
Strengthening skills for producing high quality vegetable seeds in Djibouti The Djibouti government is increasingly prioritizing local food production to reduce its dependency on imports. But there is currently no local seed production, and in [...]
WorldVeg’s Offices in Africa: 📍 Eastern & Southern Africa Office – 📍 West & Central Africa Office (Dry Regions) – 📍 West & Central Africa Office (Humid Regions)
Asia
More vegetable seed accessions sent for safety duplication
More vegetable seed accessions sent for safety duplication On 8 May, another batch of seeds was collected from the International Vegetable genebank at WorldVeg headquarters in Shanhua, Taiwan, for safety back-up [...]
Unveiling new knowledge on plant resistance to insects at a landmark symposium
Unveiling new knowledge on plant resistance to insects at a landmark symposium Drawing an audience of almost 100 experts from 17 countries for four enriching days, the 26th Biannual International Plant Resistance to Insects [...]
Breeding new disease resistant loofah gourd hybrids
Breeding new disease resistant loofah gourd hybrids Two species of loofah, ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula) and sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica), are important commercial food and cash crops rich in calcium, magnesium, [...]
WorldVeg’s Offices in Asia: 📍 Headquarters in Taiwan – 📍 South & Central Asia Office – 📍 East & Southeast Asia Office
Latin America / Caribbean
Promoting proficiency for breeding new vegetable varieties in the Americas
Promoting proficiency for breeding new vegetable varieties in the Americas With the support of the Government of Taiwan, WorldVeg began a project in 2021 with a major focus on developing a vegetable network [...]
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.
RECENT RESEARCH
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MY SUCCESS
Making mungbean more productive and profitable at the 2024 International Mungbean Congress
Making mungbean more productive and profitable at the 2024 International Mungbean Congress More than 100 participants from 25 countries gathered for the 2024 International Mungbean Congress in Bangkok, Thailand from 5-7 March. Major [...]
Revolutionizing food safety in Cambodia with new pesticide residue testing technology
Revolutionizing food safety in Cambodia with new pesticide residue testing technology Pesticide residues are a major concern in imported and locally produced vegetables. With the introduction of this state-of-the-art technology, Cambodia has [...]
New pepper varieties released in Taiwan and Nigeria
New pepper varieties released in Taiwan and Nigeria In Taiwan, bell pepper seeds are mostly imported from abroad, are susceptible to impacts of international trade, and many varieties are not suitable to [...]
New disease resistant and market-preferred tomato varieties are developed in Benin
New disease resistant and market-preferred tomato varieties are developed in Benin Story and photos: Mathieu Ayenan | March 2023 Tomato is the most popular vegetable in West Africa. And more could be [...]
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.