General World Vegetable Center Info
The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) mobilizes resources to realize the potential of vegetables for healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods. WorldVeg’s improved varieties, production and postharvest methods help farmers increase vegetable harvests, raise incomes in poor rural and urban households, create jobs, and provide healthier, more nutritious diets for families and communities.
- Founding: The Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center was founded on 22 May 1971 by the Asian Development Bank, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Thailand, USA, Vietnam, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) with a mandate to work in tropical Asia. The headquarters campus in Taiwan was dedicated on 17 October 1973. As the Center gained expertise and capacity, it expanded into sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia. In 2008, the organization adopted a new name —World Vegetable Center — to reflect its global scope.
- Headquarters: Shanhua, Taiwan.
- Board: Chair, Vice-Chair and 14 Members representing 12 countries.
- Funding: WorldVeg is a non-profit institution and receives funds from national governments and major private foundations.
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WorldVeg Mission
- Research and development to realize the potential of vegetables for healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods.
WorldVeg Vision
- Healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods through greater diversity in what we grow and eat.
WorldVeg Values
- Dedication to innovation and knowledge sharing: WorldVeg conducts world-class science, respects ethical standards and is committed to sharing results in a transparent manner.
- Commitment to impact: WorldVeg aspires to achieve positive, tangible and lasting impact contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Commitment to partnerships: WorldVeg believes in the value of partnerships to advance research for development.
- Respect for people: WorldVeg respects diversity of gender, culture, ethnic origin, religion, age, beliefs and views.
- Respect for the environment: WorldVeg strives to minimize its environmental impact and to introduce greener technology and practices.
Where is WorldVeg Today?
- Headquarters: Shanhua, Taiwan
- Regional Office for East and Southeast Asia: Bangkok, Thailand
- Regional Office for South and Central Asia: Hyderabad, India
- Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa: Arusha, Tanzania
- Regional Office for West and Central Africa – Dry Regions: Bamako, Mali
- Regional Office for West and Central Africa – Coastal & Humid Regions: Cotonou, Benin
Core WorldVeg Activities
FLAGSHIPS
- Safe and Sustainable Value Chains: Market-oriented research and development to foster sustainable and diversified agricultural production systems that create income and employment opportunities in the vegetable sector, particularly for women and youth, and catering to market demand for safe vegetables.
- Healthy Diets: Nutrition-oriented activities to improve the quality of diets of the rural and urban poor with a particular focus on women of reproductive age and children under five as they are the most vulnerable to malnutrition.
- Vegetable Diversity and Improvement: Focuses on vegetable biodiversity and high performance vegetable lines. Activities in the first cluster ensure that vegetable germplasm is collected, characterized, conserved and distributed for use in breeding programs worldwide in accordance with phytosanitary and quarantine requirements. The second cluster focuses on the genetic improvement of selected vegetable species.
- Enabling Impact: Conducts monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, best practices for scaling, and strengthening of capacity of partners to innovate. The flagship conducts impact evaluations of the Center’s development-oriented work and stimulates organizational learning to achieve faster, greater and lasting positive impact.
WorldVeg Genebank
- The World Vegetable Center Genebank holds the world’s largest public sector collection of vegetable germplasm (seed), with more than 63,000 samples representing 456 species. Our Regional Genebank for Africa in Tanzania holds Africa’s largest collection of vegetable germplasm (3,000+ samples), including more than 2,400 accessions of African traditional vegetables.
- The WorldVeg Genebank conserves and protects this vast collection of vegetable diversity and ensures it is accessible to farmers, plant breeders and researchers worldwide.
Operational Principles
- We connect people and institutions along research to impact pathways aiming for transformational innovation and change;
- We concentrate our efforts in innovation clusters and work in regions where we believe we will have the greatest potential for impact;
- We gain critical mass in research areas by working as an ‘open science center’, establishing strategic partnerships and networks with national and international research institutions;
- We nurture creativity through scholarship programs, visiting scientist programs and allocating funding for blue-sky research;
- We communicate our activities and achievements on a regular basis and in a transparent and easy-to-access manner that facilitates uptake, feedback and stewardship.