WVC gets support to improve vegetable farming

ARUSHA: THE Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has signed an agreement with the World Vegetable Centre (WVC) Eastern and Southern Africa to boost organic vegetable production and research.

FAO has injected about 650,000 dollars (1.6 bilion) as a grant to support the centre which is headquartered in Arusha District Council.

Speaking after the signing ceremony, FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRA) Secretary Dr Kent Nnadozie said yesterday that the grant will improve organic vegetable seed production and germplasm bank.

“The grant will boost and improve the vegetable agriculture economy in Tanzania, which I believe also can change many economies in Africa especially for small scale farmers” he said

He said currently WVC has about 7,000 vegetable varieties in its bank while globally there about 1 million varieties of vegetables “WVC must be responsible to make sure that it uses the grant to improve and boost the production of vegetable agriculture together with increasing the production of varieties at the centre” he said.

“You need to produce more vegetable species because the current production cannot afford the needs of African market” he added.

For his part, WVC Managing Director Dr Gabriel Rugalema said they will use the grant to solve the challenges that are currently facing the centre in order to achieve their goals.

“Currently we have 7,000 species of vegetables, our taget is to reach up to 15,000 species by next year but our target is to have 40,000 species by 2030,” he said.

He said FAO’s support aims at supporting their efforts in in improving agriculture sector especially vegetable farming.

“Tanzanians must expect quality species from the centre, so I urge them to take that opportunities by visiting and using the facility in order to promote our agriculture economy starting with individual level and country as a whole,” said Rugalema.

WVC began in 1992 in Arusha. Today the facility has professional research and development staff working across Africa on important vegetable crops such as tomato, pepper, onion and cabbage, as well as a range of African traditional vegetables, and partners with more than 40 national institutions and many international organisations.

The Centre operates three regional bases in Africa: in Tanzania for Eastern and Southern Africa, in Mali for West and Central Africa – Dry Regions (established 2014), and in Benin for West and Central Africa – Coastal and Humid Regions (2017).

There is a liaison office in Cameroon to reach into sub-Saharan Africa with improved vegetable varieties and production technologies.