World Vegetable Center

World Vegetable Center
Formation 1971
Type Nonprofit
Purpose Vegetable research and development
Headquarters 60 Yi-Min Liao, Shanhua District, Tainan
Location
Region served
Worldwide
Director General[1]
 Marco Wopereis

The World Vegetable Center, previously known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, is an international, nonprofit institute for vegetable research and development. It was "founded in 1971 in Shanhua, southern Taiwan, by the Asian Development Bank, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam."[2][3]

These countries wished for the Center to become the "facilitator" for the Collaborative Vegetable Research Network for Southeast Asia, which was to work toward completing various projects that the founding nations put forth. Overall, the main goal of this continues to be to "reduce malnutrition and alleviate poverty in developing nations through improving production and consumption of vegetables."[2][3]


Research and development

The use of vegetables as crops that are of high worth is important in the "Sustainable Development Goals" of the United Nations Development Program and the World Vegetable Center. [4] The vegetables bred by the Center can be used in poorer areas, where they can serve as "an important source of income" and can help fight micronutrient deficiencies.[5]

The Center’s current crop portfolio focuses on four groups of globally important vegetables, according to the AVRDC:[6]

Indigenous vegetables, particularly those of Asia and Africa are another focus of research at 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,[8] particularly in regions where they are not native.[9]

Germplasm collection

A collection of vegetable germplasm is kept at the World Vegetable Center, which is considered to have the "largest and most diverse collection...in the world.".[10] The collection itself contains more than 60,000 accessions of 442 different species collected from 156 countries.[11][12][13]

AVGRIS, the AVRDC Vegetable Genetic Resources Information System, provides access to all the Center's data associated with germplasm conservation and management, from registration, characterization, evaluation, and seed inventory to seed distribution.[14]

References

  1. ↑ AfricaRice Newsroom. 2015. "Appointment of Marco Wopereis as Director General of AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center."
  2. 1 2 "Taiwan vegetable center to open CentAm branch", The China Post, July 11, 2008
  3. 1 2 Tomato yellow leaf curl virus disease: management, molecular biology, breeding for resistance by Henryk Czosnek, シュプリンガー・ジャパン株式会社, 2007, Pg. 417
  4. ↑ United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
  5. ↑ Weinberger KM, Lumpkin TA. 2005. Horticulture for Poverty Alleviation – The Unfunded Revolution. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=781784
  6. ↑ AVRDV - World Vegetable Center Info PDF
  7. ↑ The great pyramid: Ty tomatoes resist pests and diseases R4D
  8. ↑ New Agriculturalist. 2008. Making more of undervalued crops. http://www.new-ag.info/pov/views.php?a=426
  9. ↑ Vikram, "How green was my veggie", The Economic Times, June 30, 2007
  10. ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO]. 2009. Draft Second Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, p. 60. Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/017/ak528e.pdf
  11. ↑ International Innovation. 2014. "The need for dietary diversity." Issue 155.
  12. ↑ "Green inheritance: the WWF book of plants" by Anthony Julian Huxley and Martin Walters, University of California Press, 2005, Pg. 169,
  13. ↑ "At this bank for vegetables, withdrawals produce interest" by R4D
  14. ↑ "SINGER makes AVRDC's Information on Vegetable Genetic Diversity Available", SGRP Annual Report 2004/2005 of the CGIAR System-wide Genetic Resources Programme by Bioversity International
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