— 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.
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.
SAVE, SHARE AND SOW VEGETABLE SEEDS: CORE ACTIVITIES AT WORLDVEG’S INTERNATIONAL VEGETABLE GENEBANK
Save, Share and Sow Vegetable Seeds: Core activities at Worldveg’s International Vegetable Genebank Diversify diets and farmer fields with wide range of options Current food systems require transformation to support both human and planetary [...]
Celebration on the International Day of Plant Health
Celebration on the International Day of Plant Health On 12 May 2025, the World Vegetable Center hosted a formal commemoration of the International Day of Plant Health (IDPH) under the theme “Healthy Plants, [...]
Guaranteeing good food on our plates, tomorrow and forever—Inaugurating the newly modernized International Vegetable Genebank
Guaranteeing good food on our plates, tomorrow and forever—Inaugurating the newly modernized International Vegetable Genebank Genetic diversity is essential to achieving global food and nutrition security. On 31 March 31 2025, WorldVeg celebrated [...]
Africa
SAFEGUARDING AND SHARING SEEDS — A new vegetable genebank for Africa
SAFEGUARDING AND SHARING SEEDS A new vegetable genebank for Africa WorldVeg officially opened Africa’s Vegetable Genebank in March 2024, at its regional center for Eastern and Souther Africa, Arusha, Tanzania. This state-of-the-art facility [...]
MEETING NEEDS — The Taiwan Africa Vegetable Initiative (TAVI)
MEETING NEEDS -- The Taiwan Africa Vegetable Initiative (TAVI) In March 2024, a new genebank was inaugurated at the National Plant Genetic Resrouces Center of the Eswatini Ministry of Agriculture, Malkerns Research Station. [...]
Beneficial biota or bugs of burden? The microbial dilemma at the heart of seed conservation
Beneficial biota or bugs of burden? The microbial dilemma at the heart of seed conservation OPINION By Abdul Shango Research Associate – Seed Quality and Conservation Office location: Arusha, Tanzania Abelmoschus esculentus [...]
WorldVeg’s Offices in Africa: 📍 Eastern & Southern Africa Office – 📍 West & Central Africa Office (Dry Regions) – 📍 West & Central Africa Office (Humid Regions)
Asia
Ready, set, grow! NASA-pioneered research accelerates chili breeding
Ready, set, grow! NASA-pioneered research accelerates chili breeding Andrew Zhang joined the WorldVeg pepper breeding team as an intern through the World Food Prize Foundation’s Borlaug-Ruan International Internship Program. A modified [...]
Applications Open: PhD Research Fellowship in Agroecology at the World Vegetable Center
Applications Open: PhD Research Fellowship in Agroecology at the World Vegetable Center The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) invites applications from highly qualified PhD students for a Research Fellowship to conduct their doctoral research at [...]
Fast-tracked climate-smart vegetables on course to reach one million farmers
Fast-tracked climate-smart vegetables on course to reach one million farmers New, climate-smart vegetable varieties developed through a partnership between the World Vegetable Center and the Asia-Pacific Seed Association (APSA) could soon reach 1 [...]
WorldVeg’s Offices in Asia: 📍 Headquarters in Taiwan – 📍 South & Central Asia Office – 📍 East & Southeast Asia Office
Latin America / Caribbean
Promoting vegetable diversity and productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean, with more tolerant varieties
Promoting vegetable diversity and productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean, with more tolerant varieties Cahabonero chili pepper in Alta Verapaz now being improved for resistance to viruses, phythophtora blight and fusarium [...]
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
MY SUCCESS
RECENT RESEARCH
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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.