“Everything starts with the seed” – a story about the work of WorldVeg
With the subtitle “A global organisation working to rescue vegetable diversity neatly combines old and new technologies”, journalist Natalie Parletta presents a most informative description of the wonderful world of vegetables, and the role of WorldVeg. Over ten colorful pages, the article describes numerous facets of how the Center contributes to safeguarding and sharing this biodiversity, that is essential for a more resilient future for farming, food production and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, processors and traders alike.
We first read about how one scientist from Benin learned the value of indigenous vegetables from his grandmother, and who now manages Africa’s largest collection of these crops at the WorldVeg genebank in Tanzania. We read about the value of and need for diversifying both farming systems and our diets with more vegetables, from others who lead different aspects of research and development at WorldVeg. And we learn how, new high tech ways of DNA sequencing, measuring plant physiology, and number crunching analysis, is allowing rapid screening and selection of new varieties more tolerant to pests, diseases, heat and drought, that are so wanted in our warming world.
This article was originally published in Cosmos, Issue 102 (March 2024) print magazine https://cosmosmagazine.com/shop/issues/buy-cosmos-magazine-future-forecast-march-2024/
Posted with permission from the publisher, with many thanks.
Parletta N. 2024. Everything starts with the seed. Cosmos Magazine, 102:46-55.
WORLDVEG IN THE NEWS
[Video] Da Ai Journal: Doomsday Ark (English/Mandarin)
Da Ai Televetion｜Taiwan, January 2024
[Video] OUR ISLAND: Seed exchange and conservation (English/Mandarin)
PTS, February 2023
[Video] Seed conservation and Breeding-2 (English/Mandarin)
Formosa TV, February 2023
[Video] Seed conservation and Breeding-1 (English/Mandarin)
Formosa TV, February 2023
New partnership agreement signed to improve global nutrition and food security ACIAR, February 2023
AFACI Newsletter Issue No. 22.
AFACI Newsletter, January – December 2022
[Video] PROJET NUTRIFOOD: Dr. Marco WOPEREIS visite le jardin scolaire de Goulo-Sodji à Zè (French)
AgricoTV, April 2022
Low-Cost Solar Dryers Yield Sustainable Incomes to Marginal Farmers of Koraput District in Odisha.
ICRISAT Happenings Newsletter, April 2022
Audience au Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Elevage et de la Pêche du Benin: World Vegetable Center porte le projet d’un symposium (French).
Benin ODD TV, April 2022
Team of scientists from Taiwan visits Nagaon
The Sentinel, April 2022
Interview with Edmond Totin, WorldVeg Project Manager for SAFEVEG on Climate Change in Africa (French)
UN News, April 2022
Why Seedbank Aren’t Just for Doomsday
BBC Future, April 2022
The scientists helping farmers kick the chemical habit
AFP, March 2022 – Published in France24, RFI, MSN, Global Times and others
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
