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Saving seed saves Papua New Guinea
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In August 2015, El Nino-driven drought and frost in the normally
tropical highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) brought cold Tasmania-like weather to Enga province. It was the worst frost to
hit the province in 40 years, and directly affected 300,000 people.
Hundreds of villages faced months without food after their gardens
were destroyed by the cold weather.
29 November 2015 avrdc.org
Postharvest
training a recipe
for success in
Uganda
Pages 12-13
Regional
network
celebrates a
decade of
progress in
Central Asia
Page 9
Farmers that know how to save their own seed gain a measure of resilience against climate change
(top): Saving seed is an essential skill for small-scale farmers in PNG.
(left): Collecting seed can be a messy but rewarding activity!
2
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In the fourth month of a dry spell,
people in PNG’s East New Britain province had no choice but to go
back to the Warongoi River, as all
reliable water sources had dried up.
The safety of the river water is a concern due to a cyanide spill at the
nearby Sinivit, or Wild Dog, mine
site. It is difficult for people to find safe water for cooking and
drinking, and some shops are
rationing mineral water.
With the lost crops and the on-
going drought, people lost not only
their food and water sources, but also their source of seed for the
next cropping season.
Apart from this year’s emergency
situations, the availability and
accessibility of quality seed has
been identified by farmers and local organizations as a main constraint
to sustainable vegetable production
in Papua New Guinea. PNG is among a number of countries
worldwide where species diversity
is under high threat of extinction.
To enhance seed security in PNG
and to ensure availability of good
quality seed of traditional vegetable
crops, AVRDC conducted a training-of-trainers course on “Producing
and Saving your Own Vegetable
Seeds” in September 2015 at the Laloki Southern Regional Center
near Port Moresby. Participants
learned how to produce, maintain and store high quality vegetable
seed, and also how to manage
community seedbanks. Twenty key
staff from the Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA),
World Vision International (WVI),
PNG Women in Agriculture for Development (PNGWiAD), the
National Volunteer Service, the City
Mission, Childfund, the Correction
Institute Service, the National Agricultural Research Institute
(NARI), and the Department of
Agriculture from the Central Province were trained in seed-
saving methods.
“The training had a special focus on traditional vegetable crops,” said
AVRDC Genebank Manager
Andreas Ebert, who taught the course. “Traditional vegetables tend
AVRDC Genebank Manager Andreas Ebert explains seed saving methods to participants in Papua New Guinea.
3
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to be superior in food value to
globally popular vegetables, and most have higher amounts of
essential nutrients.”
Historically, crops such as as aibika (Abelmoschus manihot), pumpkin
tips (Cucurbita spp.), sweet potato
leaves (Ipomoea batatas), and rungia (Rungia klossii) provided a
large proportion of the daily protein,
vitamin and mineral intake in village
diets in Papua New Guinea. But food consumption patterns in urban
areas have changed in recent
decades, with an increasing consumer preference for imported
food, such as tinned meats, rice,
flour, and tinned fish. Following this
trend, micronutrient-rich traditional crops from home gardens are being
replaced by store-bought food in
both rural and urban diets, which are energy-dense but nutritionally
poor.
Increasing the demand for
traditional vegetables has the
potential to contribute to higher
incomes for growers and sellers, the majority of whom are women.
Increasing availability and access to
traditional vegetables can improve food and nutrition security,
particularly for communities that
are remote and isolated, and for
poor urban communities. AVRDC is partnering with Charles Darwin
University (CDU) in Australia
(project lead), NARI, PNGWiAD, WVI and FPDA in Papua New
Guinea to implement an Australian
Centre for International Agricultural
Research (ACIAR)-funded project on traditional vegetables.
The project aims to promote the production of traditional vegetables
among smallholder growers in PNG
and in school and community
gardens in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT). Focus areas are
Bougainville and peri-urban Port
Moresby, with Lae and Port Moresby as potential sites for
horticultural field trials. The NT
component will trial the cultivation
of aibika in school food gardens with a nutritional education focus,
starting in urban Darwin and
extending out to schools in remote indigenous communities.
Working with an organization
that mostly deals with imported
seed, chemical pesticides,
herbicides and fertilizers, this
workshop changed my
perspective. As an extension
advisor, I will start to teach
farmers how to preserve
traditional seeds, emphasize more
on biological and cultural control
of insect pests and diseases and
weeds. I will present what I have
learnt in this period of one week to
the management team for
implementation. We can
incorporate this as one of our
programs in the organization.
Brigitta Kindiwa, Extension Advisor – Fresh Produce
Development Agency
Thank you Dr. Andreas Ebert for your training. It will help me in the long run to save my own seed bank. When I go out of here, I will use this knowledge in my farm with my boys, training them for a better life.
Joe Maa – City Mission, Port Moresby
I will bring this knowledge back to my women farmers and teach them how to take care of their seeds. They can then teach their family as well, so that this technology will be passed on. The entire training has been well-done. The length of the training is short, we need to stay one more week so we could see our seeds germinate!
Albertha Linibi Dumung – PNG Women in Agriculture, Lae
Enthusiastic seed savers will share their new knowledge with other farmers in PNG.
Participants’ perspective
Moringa! The First International Moringa Symposium organized by AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center and partners the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), Central Philippine University, and Farm Systems International Organization and hosted by the Moringaling Philippines Foundation, Inc. was held on 15-18 November 2015 in Manila, the Philippines. A total of 238 delegates from 42 countries discussed the latest moringa research and heard about current uses of the "miracle tree" in sustainable agriculture, animal feeding, human nutrition and health, and industrial applications, such as bioenergy and treatment of waste and sewage water. The need for internationally recognized quality standards of moringa products for international trade was a major topic of discussion as well, highlighted by a number of company representatives.
In his keynote speech, AVRDC Director General Dyno Keatinge spoke about the role of moringa in attaining UN Sustainable Development Goal #2 (Zero Hunger). Other keynote speakers were Roderick Drew, President of ISHS and William Dar, former DG of ICRISAT. Among the 69 oral and 10 poster papers presented, Nutritionist Ray-yu Yang delivered a paper on the nutritional
and functional properties of moringa leaves; Genebank Manger and conference co-coordinator Andreas Ebert presented papers on the Center’s progress in moringa research, the plant’s contribution to improved nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, and the benefits it offers to small-scale farmers; and former AVRDC crop and ecosystem researcher and conference co-coordinator Manuel Palada reviewed the status and opportunities for the moringa industry in the Philippines.
On the 18th, field visits were organized to moringa farms and processing plants in Pangasinan, Laguna, and Pampanga. The majority of the delegates attended the field trip to the Japan-Philippines Malunggay Eco-Farm Inc. in Laguna.
Also on the 18th, Dyno made a courtesy call to the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, where he met Emile Javier, AVRDC DG from 1989-1993, and Ruben Villareal, a former tomato breeder at AVRDC.
4 CORNUCOPIA
(left to right): AVRDC former Director General Emil Q. Javier (1989-1993), AVRDC Director General Dyno Keatinge, and AVRDC former sweet potato breeder Ruben Villareal.
Moringa champions During the symposium closing ceremony on the afternoon of 17 November, 12 moringa champions were recognized:
Dr. Farooq Anwar, Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia
Dr. Bernadette Arellano, Founding Chair of Moringaling Philippines Foundation, Inc. and Moringa farmer
Dr. Shahzad Basra, Prof. of Agronomy, Univewrsity of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan and leading the NGFO "Moringa for Life"
Dr. Armelle de Saint Sauveur, a pioneer in moringa research and development. In 2001, she organized the First International Meeting on Moringa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and started an international network - MoringaNews
Dr. Andreas Ebert, AVRDC Genebank Manager
Dr. Jed Fahey, nutritional biochemist, developing nutritional strategies for cancer chemoprotection in humans
Dr. Nikolaus Foidl, Austria, a pioneer in promoting Moringa as feedstock for food, feed, medicinal, industrial and energy uses
Dr. David Makin, owner of Moringa Propagation Company in Israel
Dr. Monica Marcu, pharmacologist and author of the book "The Miracle Tree"
Dr. Mark Olson, Plant biologist who studied and described the moringa family; now teaching at the Universidad Nacional Autunoma de Mexico, Mexico
Dr. Manuel Palada, convener of the Moringa symposium and promoter of moringa research and development
Dr. Ray-yu Yang, Head of the AVRDC Nutrition Group
Northern Thailand trapped in a maize maze?
5 CORNUCOPIA
Life as a farmer in the mountainous
north of Thailand is not easy. The land can be steep, soil quality is
poor, and water for irrigation is
largely unavailable. Markets are far away and inputs are difficult to
obtain.
But modern life requires cash for nearly everything.
To address the lack of income, government extension introduced
feed maize as a cash crop in the
early 1980s. The crop is ideal for poor farmers, as it requires a
minimum of care. Traders come to
supply inputs and buy the output,
and the government guarantees a minimum selling price. Maize has
become an important source of
income for many cash-strapped families in northern Thailand, such
as those in Nan province, where
one in five subsisted below the
poverty line in 2012.
Yet three decades after introduction
of feed maize, the bill is finally
coming due. Maize monoculture
has depleted and eroded soils, particularly on mountain slopes.
Maize expansion has been
associated with illegal forest clearance and slash-and-burn
agriculture, and average household
debt has increased as a result of low
selling prices and the ever-larger quantities of agrochemicals
required to grow maize.
Farmers, researchers and extension
services generally agree that land
use diversification is necessary, but
a recent situational analysis by four researchers from Chiang Mai
University shows that it remains
easier said than done. Since 2004, the government has promoted large
-scale rubber planting through
subsidies, but local researchers and
non-governmental organizations are skeptical as it replaces one type
of monoculture with another.
Various grass-root initiatives have sprung up that have introduced
integrated farming of rice,
vegetables, fruit trees, and small-
scale animal husbandry. However, widespread adoption of such
systems would require large-scale
improvements in water supplies
and market access.
The alternatives being tried are
nevertheless encouraging as they appear successful in providing low-
risk income and create lots of
enthusiasm and pride among
farmers. Some of these initiatives have elements or principles that
can be applied to successful land
use diversification. Humidtropics researchers also have been piloting
small-scale vegetable farming,
mushroom cultivation and
integrated fruit tree-vegetable production. Humidtropics, a
CGIAR Research Program, aims to
help poor farm families in tropical Africa, Asia and Americas to boost
their income from the
intensification of integrated
agricultural systems while preserving their land for future
generations.
Read the complete report entitled:
Situational Analysis in Support of the Development of Integrated Agricultural Systems in the Upland
Areas of Nan Province, Thailand.
The report is also available in Thai.
AVRDC Agricultural Economist
Pepijn Schreinemachers
contributed this post and photo to the Humidtropics blog.
Land degradation on mountain slopes due to maize monoculture in northern Thailand.
6 CORNUCOPIA
Seminars
Astley Hastings (top left) and Michael Gooding (bottom left)
from the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, UK led a delegation of researchers
including Lin Huang (biomathematics), Iain Donnison (land
use and bioenergy), John Clifton-Brown (energy crop breeding),
Danny Thorogood (plant breeding), and Joe Gallagher (bioconversion) to AVRDC headquarters on 5 November 2015. The
institute is researching Miscanthus, a C4 grass with potential for
use as an energy crop/biofuel. It produces high net energy per land area and its carbon intensity is less than fossil fuel.
C4 plants can regulate their stomata to control water loss—an
important characteristic for successful production in warmer and drier climates. Miscanthus is native to Taiwan and Aberystwyth
University has established cooperative partnerships with Taiwan
research institutions to explore the potential of the crop.
Ya-Ling Chu, researcher with the Kaohsiung District Agricultural
Research Station in Taiwan, discussed screening yard-long bean and cowpea germplasm for fusarium resistance at the seedling stage in a
seminar on 12 November 2015. She is working to identify the race of
fusarium (isolate 1-1); validate highly resistant cowpea and yard-
long bean accessions in fusarium inoculum fields in Kaohsiung; assess highly resistant cowpea and yard-long bean accessions for
horticultural traits; and eventually breed fusarium resistance into
production varieties.
(...continued on page 7)
AVRDC Pepper breeder Sanjeet Kumar spoke to colleagues about
recent progress in marker-assisted pepper breeding on 19 November 2015. The current work of AVRDC’s Pepper Group
focuses on cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) cytoplasm and Rf locus
analysis in peppers (multiplex PCR); marker-assisted selection for
improved anthracnose-resistant hot pepper lines; advancement and fixing of BC4F2 restorer plants; development of immortal mapping
populations; and tagging of the ms gene.
Yu-Heng Lin from the Taichung District Agriculture Research
Station presented his research on screening tomato germplasm and lines with different Ty genes for resistance to Tomato
yellow leaf curl Thailand virus - Taiwan isolate (TYLCTHV) on
24 November 2015. He is investigating the correlation between
disease resistance and different Ty genes to contribute to the work of breeding and selecting virus-resistant tomato lines.
(...continued from page 6)
7 CORNUCOPIA
AVRDC staff received an introduction to the
activities and structure of Thailand’s Department of Agriculture from Jintawee
Thaingam (center), Director of the
International Agriculture Affairs Group, and
Senior Agricultural Research Scientist in Postharvest and Production Processing
Research Nettra Somboonkewe (right) on
23 November. The visitors spent a week at HQ in discussions with AVRDC researchers and
management. They also learned about Taiwan’s
agricultural activities during visits to the Si-lo
Wholesale Market, Known-You Seed Company, and Fengshan Tropical Horticultural
Experiment Branch.
Professor Aleš Lebeda from Palacký University, Czech Republic, spoke to AVRDC
staff on 25 November about his research on two groups of plant pathogens—the oomycetes that cause downy mildew diseases, and the erysiphales that cause
powdery mildew. He has made significant contributions to the characterization of
pathotypes, races and populations of these pathogens—and in 2005, he also
described a new species, Erysiphe pachypodii. He is especially interested the genetic variability of host-pathogen interactions in vegetable crops.
Over his career, he published more than 260 scientific papers and hundreds of articles for professional and trade journals. He also served as the editor-in-chief of
the journal Plant Protection Science and on editorial boards of 13 international
journals. He is a member of 45 scientific societies and commissions.
Prof. Lebeda was directly involved in the release of seven Czech vegetable cultivars—
2 lettuce and 5 green pea—and contributed to the development of many other
vegetable cultivars in conjunction with private seed companies.
NEWS FROM THE REGIONS 8
Big fruit for fresh salads
The successful introduction of a new
variety depends on acceptance from
both farmers and consumers.
Farmers typically consider
agronomic properties such as
disease resistance, higher yield, or a
reduction in production costs when
deciding to adopt a new variety. In
the marketplace, however, consumer
demand must be created for the new
product based on its taste, color,
shape and other qualities.
The ‘AFRICA RISING - Enhancing
partnership among Africa RISING,
NAFAKA and TUBORESHE
CHAKULA Programs for fast-
tracking delivery and scaling of
agricultural technologies in
Tanzania’ project funded by the
United States Agency for
International Development (USAID)
facilitates the introduction of new
technologies such as improved
varieties, and teaches farmers how
to apply good agronomic practices
(GAP) during nursery management,
soil enhancement and pest and
disease control.
Songambele, located in the Kongwa
district, Dodoma region, is one of
nine project villages in which
AVRDC – The World Vegetable
Center and HORTI-Tengeru
implemented training-of-trainers
activities over an entire season.
Farmers in Songambele were
particularly impressed by a new
tomato line bred by AVRDC and
introduced under the name ‘Tengeru
2010.’ “I learned a lot during the
training, such as how to identify
certain pests and diseases to address
them at an early stage and how to
apply the right spacing,” said Amri
Simon, a farmer in Songambele.
“However, the most important thing
was the introduction of ‘Tengeru
2010’ as a new tomato variety. I am
now able to harvest 30 buckets
(approximately 20 liters) of
tomatoes instead of 20 buckets,
which I harvested previously from
the same area. Since I can sell each
bucket for 15,000 TSH, my revenue increased by 150,000 TSH.”
Although ‘Tengeru 2010’ was well-
received by farmers in all the project
villages, consumer demand for the
new tomato took time to develop.
The fruit of ‘Tengeru 2010’ is bigger
and not egg-shaped like the
processing varieties consumers were
accustomed to finding in the market.
During the training, the project team
encouraged the trainees to promote
‘Tengeru 2010’ for raw consumption
in salads. “After they sampled
‘Tengeru 2010’ a few times, people
started to like the big fruits and the
slightly salty taste of this variety,”
said Amri. Demand for the savory
tomato with a thicker skin soon
outstripped supply in local fresh
markets—which convinced private
seed companies to begin producing
‘Tengeru 2010’ seed for smallholder
farmers.
Farmers observe the performance of ‘Tengeru 2010’, a new tomato variety bred and introduced by AVRDC and HORTI-Tengeru, in a demonstration plot. The variety was well-received by farmers, and consumers like the bigger fruit of this salad-type tomato.
(Photos by Hassan Mndiga, AVRDC)
Amri Simon (center), a farmer from Songambele village in Dodoma, receives seed of the new variety from AVRDC. He was able to increase his revenue from tomatoes by 50% by cultivating ‘Tengeru 2010’ to meet increasing demand in the local fresh market.
(...continued on page 10)
NEWS FROM THE REGIONS 9
A decade of promoting vegetables in Central Asia
With 52 new vegetable variety
releases to its credit and many more on the way, AVRDC’s longest
running regional network recently
celebrated its 10th anniversary with
a workshop and the historic signing of a new collaborative agreement.
The Central Asia and the Caucasus Regional Network
for Vegetable Systems
Research and Development
was established by AVRDC in
2005. It aims to assist the development of market-oriented
vegetable production systems and
promote improved national
vegetable research strategies.
AVRDC’s Ravza Mavlyanova,
network coordinator, led the annual steering committee meeting
in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 10-12
November 2015. Warwick
Easdown, Regional Director of
AVRDC South Asia and the national coordinators from
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan participated.
Each country’s current research
trials, achievements and constraints on vegetable
production were presented and
discussed. The founding agreement
(top): Brochures and catalogs promote AVRDC varieties in Uzbekistan.
(left): Steering committee members met in Taskhent to review progress and plan future activities.
Signing the updated agreement for the Central Asia and Caucasus Regional Network for Vegetable Systems Research and Development
NEWS FROM THE REGIONS 10
for the network was updated and
signed by all national coordinators.
Capacity building is an important
role of the network. Eleven young
scientists currently conducting graduate research using AVRDC
germplasm and improved
technologies in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan gave
presentations about their work.
AVRDC germplasm recently has
been the focus of two PhD theses completed in Armenia, and two
Masters’ theses and one Doctor of
Sciences Degree completed in Uzbekistan. Eight postdoc
specialists were supported in their
vegetable research during 2015.
The network has been particularly
productive in testing and officially
releasing new varieties. To date,
collaborative research between AVRDC and partner research
institutes has led to the release of
52 new varieties of 15 vegetable
crops in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Uzbekistan. These include
tomato (9), hot pepper (12), sweet pepper (8), eggplant (2), vegetable
soybean (6), mungbean (5), bean
(2), leafy cabbage (1), vegetable pea
(1), vegetable marrow (1), custard squash (1), lettuce (1), basil (1) and
celery (1). A further 46 varieties of
15 vegetable crops are undergoing trials in eight countries.
Vegetable production in the region
is important and growing. The total area of vegetables sown is now
850,000 ha with annual production
of over 20 million tonnes. Cold winters constrain seasonal supplies
along with a lack of stress-tolerant
varieties, poor seed production and
a lack of improved management technologies. There is a need to
diversify farmers’ incomes and
consumers’ diets with more vegetables.
The program concluded with a visit
to the Samarkand Agricultural Institute, one of the network’s
participating organizations in
Central Asia.
(...continued from page 9)
(left): Workshop participants at the Samarkand Agricultural Institute. (right): Steering committee in session.
(below left): Vegetable products and
publications from Armenia.
(below right): Meeting with students at the
Samarkand Agricultural Institute.
AVRDC at icipe’s Science Day
Charles Onyango, AVRDC
Project Site Coordinator in Kenya,
recently participated in icipe’s
(International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology) Science
Day on 9-10 November 2015, an
annual event to celebrate the institution’s contribution to science
and development across Africa and
beyond.
Among the push-pull fields and the
cattle with tsetse fly control collars,
the AVRDC booth highlighted the Center’s USAID/Feed the Future
home garden scaling project in
Machakos County (Eastern
Province), and Bungoma and Kisumu counties (Western
Province).
“The pots of amaranth, spider
plant, kale, Africa nightshade and
spinach—the most popular micronutrient-rich vegetables in
Kenya—attracted people from
urban and peri-urban households
who are major consumers of African leafy vegetables to our
booth,” said Charles. “They showed
a big interest in urban vegetable
production for household
consumption.” Many visitors
expressed a desire to access AVRDC
-bred seeds and to participate in the project, even though they are not
part of project target communities.
Those asking questions about seed access and vegetable production
were primarily women (about
60%).
In his interactions with visitors, Charles emphasized the importance
of women as the drivers of
household nutrition, as they
typically select and prepare food for the family. AVRDC local partner
Farm Concern International (FCI)
also noted the women’s strong interest in the project.
Although the home garden project
emphasizes nutrition, vegetables
are highly profitable crops. If there
is ready demand, markets for surplus vegetables produced in
home gardens could develop.
Thibaud Martin, Director of
Research at CIRAD (French
Agricultural Research Centre for
International Development) and visiting scientist at icipe, expressed
a desire to collaborate with AVRDC.
At icipe, he leads research on the use of agronets for horticultural
pest management—a possibility for
integrated pest management
practices at the household level in the home garden scaling project.
(left): Charles Onyango (in red shirt) introduces a team from Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture (Nairobi office) to AVRDC’s research and
development activities. (right): Charles explains the concept of home gardening to a security team visiting the AVRDC stand.
11 NEWS FROM THE REGIONS
(...continued on page 13)
Cooking up new postharvest skills in Uganda
One year ago, through the
Innovation Platform established for Mukono and Wakiso districts
in Uganda, stakeholders identified
vegetables as one of the primary
entry points for increased income and food security, as well as
improved nutrition and health. In
response, AVRDC provided a seed kit of traditional vegetables to 100
farmers, who grew the crops,
evaluated them in the field, and
shared their production and marketing knowledge with other
farmers. Today the number of
farmers participating in vegetable production in the two districts has
increased to more than 500, and
their capacity to produce and
market traditional vegetables has improved through training. To take
farmers to the next skill level, two
experts from AVRDC Eastern and Southern Africa in Arusha joined
the Uganda team to work with
farmers on postharvest issues and
recipe development with the support of the Humidtropics
program. Lead farmers, extension
staff and community facilitators were trained for a week at the
Mukono Zonal Agriculture
Research Institute (MUZARDI), an
arm of the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO)
responsible for the 21 districts of
central Uganda.
AVRDC Field Officer Inviolate
Dominick guided participants in
production methods and integrated pest management techniques while
Research Associate Radegunda
Kessy explained principles of
postharvest handling and construction of the zero energy
cooling chamber (ZECC).
MUZARDI pledged to train more
farmers to use the ZECC and carry out research on its performance in
Uganda.
Inviolate led the recipe
development sessions and had
participants cooking in five
groups—one each for amaranth,
More farmers will benefit now that lead farmers, extension staff and community facilitators have learned the skills for successful vegetable production in Mukono and Wakiso districts
12 NEWS FROM THE REGIONS
(...continued from page 3)
1-5: Research Associate Radegunda Kessy explains principles of postharvest handling and construction of the zero energy cooling chamber (ZECC).
6-7: Participants prepare vegetables for various recipes, including pumpkin soup.
8: Enjoying the meal!
9: Traditional recipes on the plate.
spider plant, African eggplant, pumpkin, and nakati (Ethiopian eggplant).
The groups followed traditional recipes, such as one for pumpkin soup—which prompted a few participants to comment, “pumpkin soup is for
babies.” By the end of the cooking sessions, those participants were going
for second helpings of that bright orange, tasty soup! “I have enjoyed the
pumpkin soup,” said Mr. Sabika, a farmer from Mukono. “I will teach my wife and children these new ways of cooking and preparing vegetables.” A
participant representing Slow Food said the organization will host an
exhibition for traditional foods in Kampala in December, and will be sure to include traditional vegetable favorites on the menu for public sampling.
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13 NEWS FROM THE REGIONS
(...continued from page 12)
To mark World Food Day on
October 16, people around the world declared their commitment
to eradicate hunger and celebrate
efforts toward achieving a hunger-
free world. In Kenya, the theme for this year’s commemoration
was “Social Protection and
Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty.” AVRDC – The
World Vegetable Center’s Kenya
team joined farmers in Kisumu
County to celebrate the day. Kisumu County is among the 47
counties in Kenya where the
Center’s home vegetable garden scaling project is operational.
Lead farmer Eddy Ouko hosted
the event at his farm in Nyakach ward, Jimo East sub-location. Over
the years, Mr. Ouko has mentored
more than 50 lead and follower farmers in his area. The event
honored the efforts of young and
lead farmers who have invested
tremendously in agriculture and serve as mentors to other
smallholder farmers. More than 38
lead farmers are serving as village resource centers for the home
garden scaling project.
At a joint booth with partner Farm
Concern International (FCI), AVRDC showcased green
amaranth, spider plant, African
nightshade, kale, spinach, sunn
hemp and cowpea plants.
The representative for Kisumu
County, Rose Nyamunga, cordially welcomed AVRDC and
FCI, pointing out that joint efforts
to improve food production and nutrition cannot be
underestimated. She applauded the
many smallholder farmers present
for being at the forefront of development, and noted that food
and nutrition security is
fundamental to achieving other sustainable development goals at
the county level. Ms. Nyamunga
has fostered initiatives to develop
small-scale poultry farming, and she is keen to see the home
vegetable garden scaling project
succeed.
A World Food Day “spot market”
on the farm was filled with vendors
selling vegetables, fruits, and grains. “Where did all that food
come from?” wondered a
representative from World Vision -
Kenya. Where did the farmers get the financing to buy the seeds and
fertilizer they needed? What
research institutions developed the seed varieties that thrived in local
agroecological conditions? How did
farmers learn the agriculture
techniques to produce high-quality crops? And how did farmers get
those high-quality crops from their
farms to the spot market? He concluded that AVRDC – The
World Vegetable Center is one of
the best partners for farmers,
especially for its genebank collection of nutritious African leafy
vegetables and ability to breed high
quality vegetable lines for seed production.
World Food Day in Kenya
Representative Ms. Rose Nyamunga (black hat) at AVRDC tent.
14 NEWS FROM THE REGIONS
MATERIAL PARTNERS: CABI and AVRDC are working to promote consumption of African traditional vegetables and to develop a seed system for these in valuable crops in Uganda. The institutions teamed up to disseminate materials on vegetable and vegetable seed production produced by CABI through a training-of-trainers program for extension staff, district production officials, and community facilitators organized by AVRDC under the Humidtropics program at Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MuZARDI). The district offices will keep the materials and share with extension staff whenever needed to train farmers. Production of traditional vegetables and vegetable seed will improve farm families’ nutrition, food and income security.
AVRDC AT MERU FARMERS’ FAIR: More than 12,000 farmers from Meru District, Tanzania visited the Meru Farmers’ Fair near Arusha from 19-21 November 2015, where AVRDC staff Alaik Laizer and Raphael Mallogo were on hand to meet fairgoers and share information about vegetable production. Organized by a consortium of agricultural institutes, organizations and companies (including AVRDC), the fair focused on agribusiness and sought to create opportunities for producers, traders, suppliers, vendors and customers to meet, advertise, discuss, learn and do business.
WHO SAYS AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS CAN'T DANCE? AVRDC's Victor Afari-Sefa recently got his groove on with a group of VINESA farmers. The VINESA project aims to help young people in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Ethiopia learn the production and business skills for successful vegetable production.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: During a visit to AVRDC Eastern and Southern Africa in Arusha, Tanzania, Internal Auditor Vincent Lu took a moment to greet a feathered friend.
15 CORNUCOPIA
Fresh, 29 November 2015
Fresh is published by:
AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center P.O. Box 42, Shanhua, Tainan 74199 Taiwan
avrdc.org
Comments, ask a question, add a name to our mailing list: [email protected]
Editor: Maureen Mecozzi
Graphic design: Kathy Chen
Photographic guidance: Amy Chen and
Vanna Liu
Contributors: Thomas Dubois, Warwick Easdown, Andreas Ebert, Andreas Gramzow, Ravza Mavlyanova, Hassan Mdinga, Sylvia Namazzi, Charles Onyango, Pepijn Schreinemachers
Molly Allen and Moses Okalebo (Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute)
Manuel Palada (Central Philippine University)
Support for AVRDC activities provided by core donors the Republic of China (ROC), UK Department for International Development (DFID), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Germany, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, and Japan.
