Validation of the African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan by the African Union Commission

The African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan, developed by WorldVeg, the African Union Commission and many partners across the continent and internationally, was presented to and validated by delegates in the plenary session of the 2nd General Assembly of the African Seed and Biotechnology Partnership Platform of the African Union Commission, on 22-24 April 2024 in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. It was officially opened by Dr Godfrey Bahiigwa, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development of the African Union Commission. In a separate discussion with WorldVeg delegates and partners, Dr Bahiigwa commended the impressive work that was done, and recommended that discussions be engaged with the VACS Initiative to further explore linkages and partnerships.

WorldVeg scientist Sognigbe N’Danikou, presenting the African vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan, at the African Union Commission 2nd General Assembly, 22-24 April 2024, at AU Headquarters, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.

Prior to the plenaries of the General Assembly, a presentation was made in a technical session on the first day of the General Assembly. The African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan received positive feedback, as it complements on-going dialogues on strategies and actions to strengthen seed systems that critically address food and nutrition insecurity in Africa, and particularly in fragile and conflict affected areas – and that thus support peace resilience building efforts.

Delegates then convened on the last day of the AUC ASBPP General Assembly to review reports from technical working groups, and for deliberations. Among other things, the General Assembly discussed next steps for the finalization and launch of the Rescue Plan. The African Seed and Biotechnology Partnership Platform, delegates from Africa-wide plant genetic resources networks involved in the Rescue Plan, and the World Vegetable Center, tentatively agreed that the launch could be organized around the Africa Food Systems Summit later in 2024. There were also further discussions with representatives from FAO and the Swiss Embassy in Addis Ababa on the launch and rollout of the Rescue Plan.

Delegates from technical working groups of the African Union Commission’s African Seed and Biotechnology Partnership Platform, and delegates from the World Vegetable Center and partners, at the 2nd General Assembly, 22-24 April, AU Headquarters, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia

What is the African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan and why is it important?

African vegetables are ideal for diversifying farming systems for climate change adaptation. They are hardy, require limited space, grow on short rotations, are highly nutritious, and providing numerous options for farmers, traders and processors to improve their livelihoods. If well integrated into the food systems of African countries, vegetables can contribute significantly to achieving the US Sustainable Development Goals of zero hunger, poverty reduction, and climate action by 2030. To ensure this transition, however, requires urgent actions to rescue, safeguard, and use African vegetable biodiversity. This is especially relevant in the identified ‘hotspots’ of vegetable biodiversity.

This African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan has been developed to address these challenges and achieve a holistic approach to unlock the potential of African vegetable biodiversity, addressing supply, demand, and policy challenges and opportunities. It is also aligned with relevant global, continental and national frameworks that share components that seek to improve the rescue, conservation and sustainable utilization of vegetable biodiversity.

Implementing the Rescue Plan will result in the genetic diversity of selected African vegetables and their wild relatives being rescued and well conserved through complementary in-situ and ex-situ activities, supported by national, regional and international policies. This diversity will in turn be actively used by farmers, breeders and researchers from sub-Saharan African countries to increase the supply of nutrition-dense food and to diversify farming systems.

The Rescue Plan is an outcome of the process that started with a study on the diversity and conservation status of African vegetables (van Zonneveld et al., 2021) that established that African vegetable biodiversity is poorly conserved, and the research identified six biodiversity ‘hotspots’ in sub-Saharan Africa so far, and proposed priority actions for safeguarding these genetic resources for food and agriculture. A draft African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan was developed, and stakeholder consultations were organized to collect feedback and inputs from experts across the continent. This included sub-regional plant genetic resources (PGR) networks of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), West and Central Africa (WCA), and the Plant Genetic Resources Management Working Group (PGRM-WG) of the African Union’s African Seed and Biotechnology Program. The process was completed with a validation workshop on 14-15 December 2023 in Mbabane, Eswatini, including representatives of plant genetic resources networks and national genebanks from 16 African countries, leading to the endorsement of this publication.

The Rescue plan will be published later in 2024.

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