World Vegetable Center

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is an international, not-for-profit institute for vegetable research and development. It works towards reducing malnutrition and alleviating poverty in developing countries through the improved production and consumption of safe vegetables. Founded in 1971 as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, the Center’s work has expanded globally over the past decades. The Center’s revised title as World Vegetable Center reflects its increased global role in promoting and supporting vegetable research and development in Africa and other regions of the world. Headquartered in Taiwan, AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center has established regional centers in Thailand, India and Tanzania and offices or staff located in many other developing countries.

Mission

Mission:To alleviate poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through the increased production and consumption of safe vegetables.

Research and development

The research and extension work at AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center focuses on improving the nutritional value of vegetables and developing safer production networks. Vegetables are high-value crops that can play an important role in helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Vegetables provide an important source of income for poor rural and urban households and are the best means for overcoming many micronutrient deficiencies.

The Center’s crop portfolio focuses on four groups of globally important vegetables:
*solanaceous crops: (tomato, sweet pepper, chili pepper, eggplant)
*bulb alliums (onion, shallot, garlic)
*crucifers (cabbage, Chinese cabbage)
*cucurbits (Cucurbitaceae): (cucumbers, pumpkins) – since 2006

Indigenous vegetables, particularly those of Asia and Africa are another focus of the research at AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center. Indigenous vegetables are domesticated or semi-wild vegetable crops that are grown in particular regions as an integral part of a local food system. Many of them are underutilized crops, particularly in regions where they are not native.

The Center’s five research themes cover the collecting of vegetable germplasm, producing varieties, improving production, marketing and enhancing the nutritional value of vegetables. The areas of research include:
*Germplasm conservation, evaluation, and gene discovery
*Genetic enhancement and varietal development of vegetables
*Seed and safe vegetable production systems
*Post-harvest management and market opportunities
*Food security, diet diversification, and human health

Germplasm collection

The Center maintains the largest and most diverse collection of vegetable germplasm in the world. Its collection contains more than 56,000 accessions of 334 different species collected from 151 countries. More than 6,000 of these are indigenous vegetables or varieties of regional importance. Since its founding, the Center has distributed more than 300,000 seed samples to researchers in 180 countries. This has led to the release of hundreds of varieties that are planted on millions of hectares in the developing world today.

Partnerships and alliances

The Center’s activities include laboratory studies, field trials at locations around the world, participatory research and development work with National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES), the private sector and farmers to develop appropriate and sustainable technologies. AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center also offers extensive training and capacity building programs with the public and private sectors to ensure awareness and adoption of improved vegetable technologies.AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center seeks to form alliances of partners with complementary expertise. AVRDC is an initiator of the Global Horticulture Initiative [http://www.globalhort.org] that involves a network of international and local organizations; the Center also hosts its administrative office. AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center works closely with the centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in several areas, such as insect pest control (International Center for Tropical Agriculture and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, peri-urban agriculture (International Potato Center), cropping systems (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics; International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, International Rice Research Institute; Africa Rice Center, integrated pest management (International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, assisting HIV/AIDS impacted regions (World Agroforestry Centre), and developing policies related to fruits and vegetables (International Food Policy Research Institute).

Links

* [http://www.avrdc.org AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center]
** [http://203.64.245.173/iv_sea/ Indigenous Vegetables of Southeast Asia]
** [http://www.avrdc.org/postharvest/ Post-harvest Technologies in South-East Asia]
* [http://singer.grinfo.net/ The System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER)]
* [http://www.globalhort.org Global Horticulture Initiative (GlobalHort)]
* [http://www.ishs.org International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS)]