2023 is a meaningful year for both the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) and the NIHHS (National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science), RDA (Rural Development Administration), Korea, marking the 50th and 70th anniversaries of their opening, respectively.

The 2023 NIHHS-WorldVeg Joint Symposium on Safe and sustainable vegetable cultivation was held in the NIHHS, RDA Korea on 14 June. Speakers from the NIHHS Horticultural and Herbal Crop Environment Division, and the safe and sustainable value chain (SSVC) flagship team from WorldVeg, presented research results on pest management and control, of insects, bacterial and fungal pathogens, and viral diseases in vegetable crops, with highlights on potential collaborative issues.

In the first session, Srinivasan Ramasamy presented ‘Two decades of vegetable IPM research and scaling in Asia and Africa’, followed by You-Kyoung Han on ‘Status of vegetable diseases and management in Korea’. Subsequently, there were presentations from Hao-wen Cheng and In-Sook Cho. They emphasized the significance of viral diseases on vegetable crops in the following two talks showing many case studies: ‘An overview and prospect of plant virology research and development at World Vegetable Center’ and ‘Emergence and management of viral disease in the 21st century, Korea’

In the last session, Ricardo Oliva gave a presentation on Future directions on disease management in vegetables, and Kyungsan Choi demonstrated major insect pests causing serious damage in Korean vegetable cultivation in his talk ‘Major insect pests on vegetable crops and their management in Korea’. Lourena Maxwell showed potential eco-friendly biocontrol candidates against major pests and diseases in vegetables in her talk on Research on the development of biocontrol for major pests and diseases in vegetable production. Sophia Chan (WorldVeg virologist) also shared her views. All participants shared their research activities and case studies with one another through the question-and-answer session and separate discussions.

The director of the Horticultural crop research department, Jeong-Gwan Park said in his congratulatory remarks, that he expected that this joint symposium would create a more collaborative environment, enabling researchers of both institutes to share ideas, knowledge, and expertise more freely. Seonghoe Jang, Country Director of the WorldVeg Korea Office added that this opportunity would be a stepping stone for widening the channel of collaboration between NIHHS and WorldVeg