At the end of 2022, the Darwin project in Madagascar formally closed after three very successful years. In a country known for its rich biodiversity, people had lost the habit of eating diverse traditional vegetables, and some wild species were at risk of extinction. But WorldVeg made a significant impact…

Through the Darwin project, 501 accessions of vegetable landraces were collected and protected in ex-situ at FOFIFA (the Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural) genebank in Antananarivo with a duplicate stored at the World Vegetable Center genebank in Tanzania. One population of the endangered Vigna keraudrenii, an endemic wild relative of cowpea, was found back at one site and is being monitored for in-situ conservation and also for seed collection for ex-situ conservation in genebank.

The project empowered 200 women in the production of traditional African vegetables, and increased the interest of these foods in Madagascar. The women are now generating income from sales of these new crops, and have brought traditional vegetables back onto the Malagasy plates, something which they are very proud of.

Under the project, the first national school gardens workshop was organized by FOFIFA and the World Vegetable Center in November 2021. There were 72 participants (65% women), from ministries of agriculture, education, environment, health and women’s welfare, and from research institutes and NGOs operating in the agriculture and nutrition sectors in Madagascar, alongside representatives from JICA, GIZ, UN agencies (FAO, WFP, UNICEF), private sector (seed companies, Scaling Up Nutrition, etc.), directors of the beneficiary schools, and women farmer groups.

A panel discussion reflected on how to promote broader integration of traditional African vegetables into school gardens and canteens in Madagascar. The panelists were representatives of the National Nutrition Office, HINA a civil society organisation, FOFIFA, FAO, and WorldVeg. The major conclusion was that the high success of the project indicates that integrating traditional African vegetables into biodiversity-rich school gardens should be expanded by encouraging public procurement to improve nutrition and awareness of the benefits of traditional African vegetables.

This national conference was highly successful and was endorsed by key stakeholders in Madagascar including FAO and the World Food Programme. Six NGOs and two local governments are now partnering with FOFIFA and trained women farmers to promote these forgotten foods for their inclusion into development projects and programs that aim to strengthen nutritional security and poverty reduction in the country. Based on the success of the school program implementation, 31 public and private schools expressed their interest to also have their school gardens and grow traditional African vegetables. They expressed this through an official letter sent to the project coordination team on 1 April 2022.

World Vegetable Center:  Sognigbe N’Danikou, Rosina Wanyama, Ritha Luoga, Maarten van Zonneveld, Fekadu Fufa Dinssa, Pepijn Schreinemachers

Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural (FOFIFA), Université d’Antananarivo: Rabary Bodovololona, Tatiana Rakotoson, Tendro Radanielina, Juvet Razanameharizaka, Hery Andriamazaoro, Lalaina Ranaivoson, Denis Randriamampionona