Tainan-based World Vegetable Center helps feed those in need through seed research

Описание: Last week we looked at the work of the World Vegetable Center, and how it breeds new crop cultivars and stores the seeds of various crops. Join us today as we explore the way the center’s seeds are shared with people who need them, and how the sharing process has been made more efficient in recent decades through various partnerships with developing countries. Here’s part two of our two-part series.

The World Vegetable Center is headquartered in Taiwan and has branches in different regions of the world including Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa. Together, they share the tasks of seed collection, conservation and breeding for every variety of crop.

Horticulturalist Herbaud Zohougbogbo visited Taiwan to work with other experts on tackling the destruction of Africa’s hot peppers by disease. In his native Benin, he assists farmers in increasing their yields.

Herbaud Zohougbogbo
World Vegetable Center
We also teach farmers effective fertilization techniques, and teach them to identify pests and diseases. In this way, problems can be detected as early as possible during tomato cultivation, and these diseases can be effectively combated.

Here in Benin’s coastal area of Grand Popo, tomatoes fill baskets following a harvest. This is one of the results of the center’s efforts.

Herbaud Zohougbogbo
World Vegetable Center
We worked with some of the farmers, teaching them how to trellis tomatoes. This let them increase yield on small plots of land. You don’t necessarily need large plots, and using large plots actually increases risk.

The World Vegetable Center is a nonprofit organization, and is funded by the governments of various countries and by industry. The agricultural techniques that come out of its research are also shared with the world for free.

When a new strain is developed, the center works with a seed company or seedling farm, and promotes use of the seeds by farmers, bringing the new crop to market and on to the consumer’s home.

The crop varieties that had the best worldwide reception are its tomatoes. Since 1978, the center has sent more than 700 varieties of crops to farmers around the world, and tomatoes have accounted for more than one-third of those. Nearly 250 varieties of tomatoes have been sent to 51 countries, each variety having different shapes, colors and other unique characteristics.

Yan Jo-yi
World Vegetable Center
On a global market scale, tomatoes are a pretty major crop. The reason they are so widely consumed is that there are so many ways to eat them. They can be eaten raw, they can be cooked or used in dishes, or they can be treated like other fruits.

Developing a new crop variety takes five to eight years. In the case of tomatoes, the hybridization process involves manually removing the plant’s pollen, and using it to pollinate the flowers of other tomato plants.

Before the crop varieties bred here are sent to other countries to be grown, they are put through tests of their nutritional content. Crops are an important source of nutrition for developing countries, especially for the children in those countries. For this reason, the center also promotes programs to establish gardens in the schoolyards of schools in Africa and Southeast Asia.

At Tanzania’s Baraa Elementary School, the center works with an international NGO to provide high-quality crop varieties for growing in the school’s garden.

Sarah Ellis
iThemba Projects
The reason we started the garden project was because we were very aware that many children were not getting proper nutrition. We were lucky in that we had a large piece of land. The World Vegetable Center was very helpful, they gave us their original seeds, and we’re still growing plants from those original seeds.

Lin Yan-jung
World Vegetable Center
We train a group of instructors on good growing techniques, who then go to the schools to impart that knowledge. The instructors will also teach them how to cook the crops, and how they are best consumed. To help them get the most nutritional value out of the crops, we prepare recipes for them. This also helps make the crops more appealing to young children.

Tsvetelian Stoilova
World Vegetable Center
They harvest their vegetables, and after they use for cooking and eating during lunch time to receive micronutrients and vitamins. And we know that one of the main problems in East African countries is vitamin A deficiency.

When the schoolchildren return home at the end of the school day, they can teach their parents these techniques in turn.

Planting crops at home is a healthy practice, and the techniques learned also help improve the lives of farmers.

Lin Yan-jung
World Vegetable Center
The well-being of women and children is an issue of focus a