NTU Collaborates With Multinational Team on the Rescue of African Vegetable Germplasm

The international organization "AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center," located in Tainan, Taiwan, collaborated with the World Agroforestry Center (CIFOR-ICRAF) in Kenya, the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin, and the Department of Agronomy at NTU to save African vegetable germplasm. With funding support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Agriculture in Taiwan, they carried out the "Taiwan African Vegetable Initiative" to enhance vegetable production diversity, provide diversified nutrition, and solve food and nutrition problems. The academic research of this initiative, which focuses on "Finding Forgotten Food Crops in Sub-Saharan Africa for Healthy Diets in a Changing Climate," was published on March 27, 2023, in the prestigious international journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, raising awareness of the importance of "forgotten crops."

This research looks ahead to 2070, hoping to include the cultivation of crops in sub-Saharan Africa on the priority list of recommended "forgotten crops," achieving a win-win situation for climate adaptability and high nutritional value in food production in the region. The goal is to demonstrate the critical role of germplasm in achieving zero hunger and healthy diets in the future. The collaboration between the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) African research team and the Department of Agronomy at NTU has successfully promoted the importance of preserving African vegetable germplasm and diversifying food.

Visit the website of the College of Bioresources and Agriculture for more information: https://www.bioagri.ntu.edu.tw/newsdetail.php?show=1&pgshow=1&ID=564