In Brief Archives - World Vegetable Center

New board member for Taiwan

Dr. Chung-hsiu Hung, Director General, Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park, Council of Agriculture (COA), Executive Yuan is the new country representative for Taiwan on the World Vegetable Center Board of Directors. Dr. Hung received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics and Applied Economics from National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, in 1998 and 2004, respectively. He previously served as Director of the COA Agriculture and Food Agency and Director General of the COA Department of Farmers’ Service, where he guided leisure agriculture industry development, agricultural extension education, farmers’ welfare measures, and agricultural labor policy. In 2017 he was appointed Director General, COA Department of International Affairs and made substantial contributions to exchanges and interaction between Taiwan’s agriculture sector and international trade, including production and marketing structures for small-scale farmers in São Tomé and Príncipe, supply chains for avocados in Honduras, and orchid supply chains in Paraguay. Dr. Hung has taught courses in global trade, business management and financial tax administration at the National Open University in Taiwan. Over the years he has published more than 90 papers in journals within and outside Taiwan.

Brassica2020-05-20T02:24:00+00:00May 20, 2020|Categories: In Brief|Tags: board of directors, Taiwan|

There’s always ‘Hope’!

‘Hualien AVRDC No. 2 - Hope,’ a new disease-resistant pumpkin variety, was released in Taiwan by the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (DARES) at Guan-Ease Farm, Shou-feng Town, Hualien on 28 April 2020. The severity and spread of pumpkin viruses has been on the rise in Taiwan in recent years. To address the problem, in 2012 Hualien DARES and the World Vegetable Center began screening and selecting pumpkin lines for virus resistance. ‘Hualien-AVRDC No. 2-Hope’ proved to be a high yielding line that produces attractive bell-shaped fruit with a sweet taste—and is resistant to Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). With virus resistance bred into the variety, farmers can reduce pesticide use when growing the crop. ‘Hualien AVRDC No. 2-Hope’ is suitable for organic farming.

Brassica2020-04-29T08:48:02+00:00April 29, 2020|Categories: In Brief|Tags: pumpkin, virus resistance|

Winning a grant for the greater good

Illumina awarded Dr. Roland Schafleitner and the International Mungbean Improvement Network (IMIN) the 12th annual Illumina Agricultural Greater Good Initiative Grant for generating genomic resources for mungbean breeding.

WorldVeg Communications2020-03-04T05:39:30+00:00January 15, 2020|Categories: Articles, FEB2020, In Brief|Tags: ACIAR, International Mungbean Improvement Network, mungbean|

56th Meeting, WorldVeg Board of Directors

The World Vegetable Center Board of Directors held its 56th meeting from 11-20 November 2019 at WorldVeg headquarters in Taiwan. The board expressed its profound gratitude to the Government of Taiwan for its tremendous support to WorldVeg in general and for the RIM project at WorldVeg Headquarters in Shanhua, Taiwan in particular. Board members endorsed a new research mobilization strategy consisting of three interactive tracks: (i) diversifying and expanding Center income; (ii) positioning WorldVeg as an ‘Open Science Center’; and (iii) establishing a strategic alliance with ‘One CGIAR’. Two new members were appointed to the board: Dr. A.K. Singh (India), Deputy Director General, Horticultural Science Division, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and Dr. Gordon Rogers (Australia), CEO of Applied Horticultural Research.

Brassica2019-11-25T03:25:39+00:00November 25, 2019|Categories: In Brief|Tags: 2019, board, board of directors|

MOU signed

The World Vegetable Center and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 30 October 2019 to guide future collaborations. WorldVeg Director General Marco Wopereis and ICAR DG Dr. S. Trilochan Mohapatra put their signatures on the document at the ICAR office in New Delhi.

Brassica2019-11-01T08:54:37+00:00November 1, 2019|Categories: DEC2019, In Brief|Tags: ICAR, MOU|

Representing the USA in Taiwan

A delegation from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) led by Director W. Brent Christensen visited WorldVeg headquarters on 23 October 2019. Although Director Christensen has held several senior positions in the US Foreign Service related to Taiwan over a 29-year period, this was his first visit to WorldVeg -- and HQ staff memebers were delighted to introduce him and his team to the wonderful world of vegetables. Director Christensen was accompanied by Taipei office colleagues Mark Petry, Agricultural Section Chief; Sheree Chang-Chien, Economic Specialist; and Jewel Huang, Information Assistant; and from the AIT Kaoshiung office, Matthew O’Connor, Branch Chief; Peter McSharry, Public Affairs Officer; and Vivian Chu, IRC Assistant. The visitors were briefed on WorldVeg activities by Director of Communications Maureen Mecozzi and took a tour of the Genebank with Deputy Directors-General David Johnson (Research) and Yin-fu Chang (Administration and Services). At the Demonstration Garden, the visitors planted trees (hoop pine, moringa, sesbania, and mahogany) to begin “The AIT Grove” – a symbol of a strong ongoing partnership with the US to support research for development worldwide. Reporters from Taiwan’s FTV were on hand to film the visit.

Brassica2019-10-24T04:16:35+00:00October 23, 2019|Categories: DEC2019, In Brief|Tags: AIT, American Institute in Taiwan|

New prospects for Odisha

A proposal on sustainable improvement of rural livelihoods through vegetable cultivation and value addition was approved by the Ministry of Panchayat Raj and Drinking Water Department, Government of Odisha, India on 20 September 2019. The World Vegetable Center will work with the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) to introduce vegetable seed hubs and protected cultivation methods, improve nursery production practices, adopt postharvest practices to reduce losses and increase value addition, and strengthen value chains for tomato, chili, onion and eggplant. WorldVeg Plant Physiologist Dr. Bindumadhava HanumanthaRao will be the project’s principal investigator. More than 65% of Odisha’s population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. Small-scale farmers make up 90% of the state’s farming community, with average landholdings of 1.15 hectares.

Brassica2019-10-04T04:00:19+00:00October 4, 2019|Categories: Briefing, In Brief, OCT2019|Tags: Odisha|

Processing tomatoes for plump profits!

India is the world’s second-largest tomato producer but processes less than 1% of its harvest. To ensure tomato growers, processors and consumers benefit from the best tomato fruit available, the World Vegetable Center shared two top-performing dual purpose (fresh market and processing) tomato breeding lines with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) on 24 June 2019 at GIC-India headquarters in Bengaluru.

Brassica2019-08-13T03:09:11+00:00June 26, 2019|Categories: Briefing, In Brief, JULY2019, PHOTO OP|Tags: India, South Asia, tomato|

WorldVeg in Ethiopia

Her Excellency Aynalem Nigussie Ali, State Minister of Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, graciously welcomed a WorldVeg delegation on 17 June 2019 in Addis Ababa to discuss opportunities for collaboration. The team conducted a scoping study to determine how best WorldVeg can contribute to the country's efforts to expand vegetable production. Horticulture is a major driver of the agricultural sector in Ethiopia, and the government is expanding small-scale irrigation with fruit, vegetables and tubers as major target crops. The country seeks to establish year-round production, reduce postharvest losses, and increase use of its rich biodiversity of nutrient-dense traditional vegetables.

Brassica2019-08-13T03:10:33+00:00June 19, 2019|Categories: Briefing, In Brief, JULY2019, PHOTO OP|Tags: Ethiopia|

Is there a doctor in the house?

Yes! Congratulations to Dr. Never Mwambela, former WorldVeg Eastern and Southern Africa staff, who received her PhD from the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology on 25 April 2019 for her thesis “Occurrence, Seasonal Variation and Management of Tomato Leafminer (Tuta absoluta Meyrick.) in Tanzania” and Dr. Sopana Yule, WorldVeg East and Southeast Asia, who was awarded a PhD for her work on “Whitefly transmission of tomato yellow leaf curl virus and integrated management for beating the virus in tomato” on 7 May 2019 from Kasetsart University, Thailand. Their research was conducted in the WorldVeg Safe and Sustainable Value Chains flagship, under the guidance of Flagship Leader Dr. Srinivasan Ramasamy.

Brassica2019-05-30T02:55:44+00:00May 30, 2019|Categories: Briefing, In Brief, MAY2019|Tags: PhD, scholars|