World Vegetable Center

13/08/2026

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 (published by Springer Nature) on 3 September 2026. The half-day event will include a mini-symposium with brief presentations by WorldVeg and KU staff and senior editors of the journal.

Kasetsart University professors, researchers, and students are warmly welcome to attend.

For more information, please see the flyer below.

11/08/2026

📢 Join WorldVeg and Dikoda for the launch of our new evidence brief, 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞-𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐨𝐰- 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞-𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.

We’ll share key findings on strengthening vegetable-inclusive school meals, followed by a panel discussion with regional experts and practitioners.

📅 18 August 2026
🕑 2:00–3:30 pm Fiji time (UTC+12)
💻 Online

👉 Register now: https://forms.gle/5y265oERvnCkB7ot6

10/08/2026

👏🌱 Congratulations to Pamela AFOKPE of East-West Seed on receiving the Borlaug Field Award from the World Food Prize Foundation!

It is inspiring to see her work in indigenous vegetables, creating greater opportunities for smallholder farmers and contributing to more resilient food systems across West Africa.

We are especially pleased to celebrate this achievement with East-West Seed, a valued member of both the 𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐀-𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐕𝐞𝐠 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐦 and the 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐦 (𝐀𝐕𝐁𝐂).

Congratulations, Pamela, on this well-deserved recognition!

07/08/2026

The Head of the CIP Genebank, Maarten van Zonneveld, and the CGIAR Genebanks Director, Vânia Azevedo, are among the co-authors of a new paper: “Reversing vegetable biodiversity loss to diversify diets”.

Published in PNAS, the paper highlights how conserving and using crop diversity is essential to diversifying diets and improving nutrition. It calls for a global effort to conserve vegetable biodiversity, harness it for crop improvement, promote healthier diets, and strengthen enabling policies through the Vegetables4Life initiative led by World Vegetable Center and Crop Trust.

The call for action comes at a critical time as a recent UN report warns that one in three people cannot afford a healthy diet. Vegetables are an essential component of healthy diets, yet on average, people consume nearly 40% fewer vegetables than recommended. The shortfall is even greater in lower-income countries.

At the same time, many vegetable varieties are disappearing from fields, and the conservation and use of vegetable genetic resources are insufficient.

The paper highlights four vegetables with high potential to help diversify diets. They are nutrient-dense, adapted to challenging growing conditions, and valued in local food cultures:

🕷️ Spider plant - a popular leafy green in parts of Africa
🥒 Bitter gourd - a climate-resilient vegetable prized across Asia and the Caribbean
🥬 Slippery cabbage - a leafy vegetable popular in the Pacific for its unique texture and reported health benefits
🎃 Pumpkin - a vegetable that is native to the Americas, drought- and heat-tolerant, and rich in beta-carotene and other nutrients

The CGIAR Genebanks Accelerator and International Potato Center are contributing to this work by helping to develop a Vegetables4Life Roadmap for the Americas. The Roadmap is being developed with key partners across the region and sets out actions including conducting baseline surveys and targeted germplasm collection, strengthening and modernizing genebank infrastructure, and supporting community seedbanks.

➡️ Read the full paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2532063123

Congratulations to the other co-authors: Colin K. Khoury, Anna Herforth, Chris Vogliano, Cary Fowler, Sarah Gora, Sarada Krishnan, Logotonu Meleisea-Waqainabete, Sognigbe N’Danikou and M. Eric Schranz.

📸 Surath Machambire of WorldVeg checks seedlings at the organization’s regional hub in Arusha. Pic by Neil Palmer (WorldVeg).

07/08/2026

🍅 Seeing is believing: WorldVeg climate-smart tomatoes more than triple yields in northern Ghana field demonstrations

WorldVeg tested six tomato varieties with local farmers to see how they perform under hot, dry conditions. The best-performing hybrid yielded 78.5 tonnes per hectare, compared with less than 20 tonnes for the local variety.

But yield is only part of the picture. Early maturity, disease resistance, shelf life and market demand all matter when farmers decide what to grow.

The work has now reached 15 communities and more than 1,200 farmers across Ghana’s Upper East Region.

👉 Read the full story:
https://www.worldveg.org/climate-smart_tomatoes_triple-yields_in_ghana/

To help farmers respond to these challenges, WorldVeg introduced its improved climate-smart tomato varieties through demonstration plots and hands-on training

03/08/2026

27/07/2026

🚩 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬.

A major new study by WorldVeg, the Crop Trust, Wageningen University & Research and partners warns that modern food systems are becoming increasingly dependent on a small number of widely grown vegetable crops, while many traditional vegetables and their wild relatives are disappearing.

The researchers argue that vegetable biodiversity is essential for healthier diets and improving the resilience of agriculture to climate change. Their findings come as the UN warns that more than one in three people cannot afford to eat healthily, highlighting the need to make nutritious foods - including vegetables - more affordable and accessible.

Rising to these challenges will require coordinated action. 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝟒𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞, a new global initiative led by WorldVeg and co-led by the Crop Trust, is bringing together partners to rescue, conserve and use vegetable biodiversity for healthier diets, climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods.

🔎 Read the full story: https://www.worldveg.org/global-effort-to-rescue-disappearing-vegetables/

27/07/2026

School gardens do more than grow vegetables - they help grow the next generation of seed guardians. 🌿💚

In Kenya, pupils are learning to grow and save seeds from traditional African vegetables, helping preserve local biodiversity, improve nutrition, and pass valuable knowledge on to future generations.

🔎 Read the full story: https://www.worldveg.org/traditional-african-vegetables.../

👏 Follow the WorldVeg project, TAVI – Taiwan-Africa Vegetable Initiative, for more inspiring stories about school meals, nutrition, and vegetable innovation across Africa. 🌍

24/07/2026

𝐏𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲-𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜.

The newly endorsed 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 calls for healthier school food environments, stronger links between schools and local food producers, and greater investment in nutritious, locally sourced foods.

For WorldVeg, vegetables are part of the solution. Through research and partnerships across the Pacific, we are working to make nutritious vegetables more available, affordable, and appealing for children and their families.

The Declaration was endorsed by more than 100 participants from 16 countries, marking an important step toward healthier children, stronger local food systems, and more resilient communities.

🔎 Discover how this regional commitment is turning into action:
https://www.worldveg.org/pacific-school-food-declaration/

Putting locally grown and traditional foods back on school menus in the Pacific is at the heart of a new call by representatives from governments, educators,

15/07/2026