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.

See also: A new genenbank for southern Africa and the SADC region, in Eswatini

TAVI stimulates vegetable supply and demand as a foundation for resilient, healthy and sustainable food systems. In Eswatini, it supports the National School Feeding Program to improve child and household nutrition, with school gardens and home gardens, supported by seed kits and technical training also given to champion farmers, who supply nutrient dense African vegetables to schools, orphanages and neighborhood care points.

A key component is the rescue of African vegetable landraces and crop wild relatives across four vegetable biodiversity hotspots in Benin, Eswatini, Madagascar and Tanzania, and to safeguard seed accessions and make them available for breeding, with genebanks upgraded and staff trained.

Mobile kitchens spreading nutritional education in Eswatini

School children tasting vegetable dishes from the mobile kithcen

“School children beam with smiles each time they see the TAVI mobile kitchen” says Mrs Vilakati, a teacher at Ezulwini community primary school. “For them, it’s the joy of knowing that the kitchen is bringing them delicious and nutritious vegetables. They even start making up vegetable songs and sing them excitedly!” Such are the benefits of mobile kitchens, an innovative and powerful advocacy tool, operated by WorldVeg in Eswatini through the Taiwan Africa Vegetable Initiative (TAVI). With their colourful branding of traditional vegetables and nutritional content, they have become an important part of sensitization drives that aim to increase the consumption of traditional African vegetables and nutrition of people in Eswatini.

Mobile kitchens are a great way to engage school children and the generic public on the benefits of eating traditional African vegetables. They provide information, create awareness, and are a practical way to serve vegetable-based meals during outreach events. During 2024, their first full year of operation, more than 40,000 people were reached in promotion events using three mobile kitchens, in collaboration with the Taiwan Embassy. This was part of wider public engagement that reached more than 120,000 people, or some 10% of the Eswatini population.

The mobile kitchen allows to taste traditional vegetables because meals are packed and nicely arranged. It is a great tool for information dissemination about vegetables and nutrition, and people line up to get their meals from the kitchen. What makes this innovation even more unique is the nutritional value table, so as people taste the vegetables, they also get to appreciate the health benefits at the same time.

The tasting events are a powerful reminder of the immense potential of these traditional crops, because each time the kitchen shows up at a community, local farmers and communities see themselves on a path towards more sustainable and nutritious food systems.

Headteacher of Boyane primary school Mrs Precious Mabuza, says that “there is nothing better that the TAVI mobile kitchen in our school. Many of the children depend on school meals, and seeing the kitchen drive up to the school is a sheer pleasure for all of us, teachers and learners.

It helps the children eat a balanced meal, and they have mastered the nutritional table on the side, choosing their vegetables while knowing full well which vitamins and nutrients they are boosting their bodies with.”

Another way of spread the word was with a new recipe book, containing 50 dishes, snacks, drinks and confectionaries that contain traditional African vegetables as a key ingredient.

See also: Celebrating the amazing achievements of the Tawian Afirca Vegetable Initiative

TAVI is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan. It is implemented by the World Vegetable Center, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Education and Training, Eswatini; the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin; the National Plant Genetic Resources Centre, Tanzania; and the National Center for Applied Research on Rural Development (FOFIFA) and University of Antananarivo, Madagascar.