During Vegetable Science Day on 2 November 2023, at the start of the golden jubilee celebrations of the World Vegetable Center at its headquarters in Shanhua, Taiwan, an important new Memorandum of Agreement was exchanged, between the Korea National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (NIHHS) of the Rural Development Administration, and WorldVeg.

Remarks were given by Dr Ji-hye Moon, Director of the NIHHS Vegetable Research Division, and Marco Wopereis, WorldVeg Director General, regarding how this new agreement would lead to more mutual benefits between their organizations, and for the promotion of vegetable sectors all over the world.

MoA exchange ceremony. Left to right: Dr Yoon-Ah Jang, senior scientist for leafy vegetables in the NIHHS Vegetable Research Division; Dr Hye-Eun Lee, senior scientist for solanaceous vegetables in the NIHHS Vegetable Research Division; Dr Ji-Hye Moon, Director of the NIHHS Vegetable Research Division, RDA, Korea; Dr Marco Wopereis, WorldVeg Director General, Ms Delphine Larrousse, WorldVeg Regional Director East and Southeast Asia; and Dr Seonghoe Jang, Country Director of WorldVeg Korea Office (WKO).

The Rural Development Administration of the Republic of Korea was a founding national research institution that contributed to the establishment of WorldVeg in 1973, then known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC), and has been sending resident researchers to collaborate with WorldVeg since 1992. The agreement also builds on a Memorandum of Understanding recently signed between the two organization, that confirmed their intent to ensure the duplication of the WorldVeg vegetable germplasm collection at the Korea National Agrobiodiversity Center of the RDA, with plans to conserve seeds for 100 years.

The WorldVeg Korea Office (WKO), established in 2019, is located at the NIHHS. It conducts regional adaptability evaluation of WorldVeg vegetable accessions, and screens crop varieties for the development of improved cultivars that are required for future climate resilience. Also, the Korea office collaborates with the Korea Rural Development Administration’s Alumni Association (KoRAA), consisting of government officers in the fields of agriculture and horticulture from East and Southeast Asian countries in vegetable-related training and information exchange. Furthermore, the Korea office operates a vegetable breeding project together with staff from WorldVeg headquarters, for member countries of the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI). Through these collaborations with partner organizations, WorldVeg works through collaborative technology-sharing platforms that supply genetic material that is adapted to local conditions, and providing vegetable breeding technologies. This contributes to the strengthening of capacities within KoRAA and AFACI member countries.

Thanks to this new Memorandum of Agreement, the ties between the two organizations are further strengthened, and that will lead to greater benefits for the whole region.

Microsoft Word – RDA-WorldVeg MoA exchange.docx (avrdc.org)

https://avrdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/story_RDA-MoU-Signing.pdf