Board members toured the regional office campus and learned first-hand about initiatives to develop solar dryers for vegetables, innovations in below-ground grafting chambers, and vegetable business hubs to engage young people in horticultural production.
Long-term strategic donor the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research recently renewed its commitment to the mission and research of WorldVeg.
WorldVeg and partners in Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin recently began planning for a new initiative to tap rising urban demand for safe, affordable, and nutritious vegetables.
In early 2018, seed company representatives attended a needs assessment at WorldVeg and set out a priority list of training topics. In response, WorldVeg South Asia organized three courses to address their training requirements.
What makes local food systems more sustainable?
Increasing vegetable consumption is important in Nepal, where only 42% of the boys and girls 6-9 years old are estimated to receive the minimum diversity of foods needed for a healthy diet.
It takes individual effort for the benefits of a project to take hold on farms and in communities once activities conclude.
Some insects like eating vegetables, but most consumers don’t like to share theirs. Protecting vegetable crops from insect pests remains a huge challenge for farmers; many often over-apply chemical pesticides to reduce the risk of crop loss and deliver unblemished produce to the market.
WorldVeg wrapped the year and looked ahead during the 2018 Global R & D Week
SEARCA and WorldVeg will be able to access each other’s networks, develop joint research programs, organize roundtable conferences, and more.