Common ground for growth of Asia’s seed...

8 June 2012 www.avrdc.org

Growing vegetables in

and around Hyderabad,

India: Is there space for

peri-urban gardens?

page 15

Common ground for growth of Asia’s seed sector

Representatives of

20 Asian seed

companies gather at

AVRDC – The World

Vegetable Center for

research updates

and discussions

The intricate processes and

practices of breeding, multiplying, and marketing seed engaged a

group of 71 agricultural scientists

and business representatives

during the sixth AVRDC-APSA Workshop, held at AVRDC – The

World Vegetable Center

headquarters on 23-24 May 2012.

Thirty-four members of the Asia

and Pacific Seed Association (APSA) attended the two-day event,

which featured presentations by

AVRDC and APSA staff covering

various aspects of vegetable breeding, germplasm collection,

biotechnology, gene discovery,

nutrition and plant protection.

AVRDC Director General Dyno

Keatinge welcomed seed company owners, managers, and scientists

from India, Indonesia, Japan, the

Netherlands, the Philippines,

People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and Thailand to discuss issues of

mutual interest with AVRDC staff.

“A vibrant private sector is the best

Santanu Acharya (left) and Avrind Deshpande of JK AgriGenetics view tomato trials.

2

way to get seed to smallholder

farmers,” Keatinge said. “We need each other.”

Seed companies across Asia receive

seed samples from AVRDC’s genebank, and also use the Center’s

improved breeding lines in their

vegetable variety development programs. The Center’s vegetable

germplasm collection is held in

trust for the current and future use

of all humankind; a small handling fee is charged for seed, based on

location and the type of

organization.

APSA is the largest regional seed

association in the world. Tom Burns, APSA Director, noted the

long-term relationship his

organization has had with the

Center, going back to the 1990s. Jackie Hughes, AVRDC Deputy

Director General-Research,

emphasized the important role of seed companies in the vegetable

value chain.

Participants received progress updates on the Center’s tomato,

cucurbit and pepper breeding

programs, including the validation

of molecular markers for Bwr12, a

tomato gene linked to bacterial wilt resistance; ongoing field trials to

assess 24 bitter gourd lines for yield

and fruit quality, resistance to

powdery mildew, and concentration of nutrients and anti-diabetic

compounds; and crosses to develop

leaf-curl resistance in sweet and hot peppers. Details about the ongoing

characterization of the Center’s

nearly 60,000 accessions

representing 435 species, and the 2011 distribution of seed from the

AVRDC genebank were shared.

(left) Cucurbit researcher Chung-Cheng Lin (green shirt) discusses his field trial with seed reps; (right) Shivaprasad of Advanta India (left) and

Joep van Balen of Enza Zaden, The Netherlands.

(...continued on page 3)

(...continued from page 1)

(above left) Anthony Tse of Clover Seed addresses the participants, including AVRDC Director General Dyno Keatinge (front row, center) and Tom Burns, APSA Director (front row, right).

3

Other presentations covered hybrid reproduction to transfer genes from

wild species into vegetable crops; a

closer look at the okra

transcriptome (the set of all RNA molecules produced in a cell) as a

source of gene sequence

information to delineate species; Corporate Social Responsibility as a

an opportunity for seed companies

to develop a positive image of their

work related to the environment, food safety, nutrition, and public

health; virus monitoring and

characterization; sources of insect resistance in okra and bitter gourd;

and screening for anthracnose on

pepper fruit.

Narendra Kumar Singh,

Research and Breeding Director,

HM Clause Company, Thailand, discussed the challenge of breeding

commercial vegetable hybrids for

the Asian market. He outlined the

process of selecting a target market, choosing slots within that market,

and using market research to guide

the basket of traits to be bred into a new hybrid line. Hybrid vegetable

seed accounts for about 5-10% of

the Asian seed market. To be

successful in the current market, commercial breeders typically

produce hybrids with traits that

primarily address grower preferences (disease resistance and

high yield, for example), followed

by traders’ preferences (good

transportability, long shelf life) and finally consumer preferences

(appearance, color). Currently, taste and overall nutrition are less

important in commercial hybrids,

although this may change over

time. About 50% of the Asian market still seeks open-pollinated

varieties, the seed of which can be

saved for planting in subsequent seasons.

During a field tour coordinated by

AVRDC Virologist Wen-Shi Tsai, participants viewed trials of

multiple TY gene tomato lines, the

International Sweet and Chili Pepper nurseries, and advanced

generation selections of cucumber.


(top) Comparing field notes: (left) Ashwin Kashikar and Manju Vishwakarma, Ankur Seeds, India (right) Anthony Tse and Winnie Liu, Clover Seed, Hong Kong. (bottom) (left) Plant breeders where they like to be — in the field. (right) Tom Burns (l), APSA Director, chats with Peter Hanson, AVRDC Tomato Breeder.

A super seed partner

Big thanks to Super Agri Seeds

Pvt. Ltd., which evaluated 29 chili pepper accessions from AVRDC –

The World Vegetable Center at the

company’s

research farm in Hyderabad,

India.

Managing Director Ravi

Srinivas and R&D General

Manager H.R. Prabhushankar

noted 23 different character attributes for each of chili

accessions they planted in field

trials. AVRDC plant breeders welcome such information on local

adaptation and performance of

AVRDC lines from seed companies and research institutions.

http://www.superagriseeds.com/

Two of 29 AVRDC chili pepper accessions evaluated in India by Super Agri Seeds Pvt. Ltd.: AVPP0807 (left) and AVPP0105 (top).

Bitterness banished for upcoming study

A dried powder for preparing non-

bitter bitter gourd juice has been developed by Hsin-I Wang and

Sandra Habicht at AVRDC

headquarters in Taiwan in

preparation for an intervention trial with diabetic patients as part of the

project “A better bitter gourd:

Exploiting bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) to

increase incomes, manage type 2

diabetes, and promote health in

developing countries.”

Samples of the powder—labeled as

“A” and “B” to represent the actual juice powder and a control—have

been sent to partners at the

Avinashilingam University for

Women (AUW) in Coimbatore, India, the Kilimanjaro Christian

Medical Center (KCMC) in

Moshi, Tanzania and Justus-Liebig University, Giessen,

Germany for their comments and

suggestions. Data collected during

the intervention trial will help determine the anti-hyperglycemic

properties of bitter gourd, and will

be used to develop evidence-based

dietary strategies for managing the disease.

The bitter taste of the vegetable powder had to be masked to avoid

bias and guarantee a blind study

design. During the trial the

powders will be dissolved in drinking water and consumed by

participants, who will not know

which juice is which.

To read more on the project’s

progress, read the latest issue of BiG News:

http://www.bitter-gourd.org/files/9413/3851/1408/BiGNews_May2012.pdf

The juice powder packets give no hint as to what is inside: the bitter gourd powder or the control compound.

4 CORNUCOPIA

The Center in the news

Seed Quest and Teatro Naturale websites reported on the

2012 APSA-AVRDC Workshop.

http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=27148&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=

http://www.teatronaturale.com/article/3531.html

The availability and incentives for net house vegetable

production were discussed during the annual planning meeting of the project “Improving vegetable production

and consumption for sustainable rural livelihoods in

Jharkhand and Punjab” hosted by Punjab

Agricultural University and AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center and funded by the Sir Rata Tata

Trust. The meeting made headlines in the Punjab

Newsline, the Hindustan News, and the Ludhiana Tribune.

http://punjabnewsline.com/content/seminar-improving-vegetable-production-and-consumption-pau-ludhiana/43512

Teatro Naturale noted the recent Food and

Agriculture Organization Regional Symposium on “Promotion of underutilized indigenous

food resources for food security and nutrition

in Asia and the Pacific” held 31 May-2 June

2012 in Khon Kaen, Thailand. AVRDC Director General Dyno Keatinge was a keynote

speaker; East and Southeast Asia Regional

Director Robert Holmer also attended the event.

http://www.teatronaturale.com/article/3537.html

The Center’s project to map urban farming activities in and around

Bangkok caught the attention of City Farmer News.

http://www.cityfarmer.info/2012/05/16/thailand-mapping-urban-farming/

5 CORNUCOPIA

Cricket champions

At the recent Food and Agriculture Organization regional symposium

on “Promotion of underutilized

indigenous food resources for food security and nutrition in Asia and

the Pacific” at Khon Kaen

University in northeast Thailand, 31

May-2 June 2012, Michael

Hermann, Director of Crops for the Future, mentioned the new

Association of International

Research and Development Centers

for Agriculture (AIRCA) in his presentation and highlighted his

organization’s collaboration with

AVRDC and other centers. AVRDC Director General Dyno Keatinge

spoke on behalf of the Diversity for

Development Alliance in his

keynote address, and highlighted joint institutional objectives with

Crops for the Future, Bioversity

International, and other organizations present at the

symposium.

Mutual admiration aside, the

directors set one another a challenge, and in the name of field

research ingested unconventional,

though nutritious, foods at the

workshop and on the associated field trip, including domesticated

porcupine from Vietnam, edible

tarantulas from Cambodia, and farm-raised crickets from Thailand.

Both organizations recognize that

additional sources of nutrient-

dense foods have a role to play, in addition to fruits and vegetables, in

winning the global war against

malnutrition.

This food has legs: Dyno Keatinge (l) and Michael Hermann dine on deep-fried crickets.

Seminars Farewell

Kola Olatifede,

Director of Finance, discussed “Overview

and Impact of the

Maconomy System on

the Budgeting Process in AVRDC – The

World Vegetable

Center” with colleagues during a seminar on 31 May 2012. “A well-crafted budget is a tool to measure the

Center’s performance,” Kola said. He explained the

Center’s income streams, reviewed budget preparation

and allocations, and outlined budget approvals. System controls in Maconomy, the Center’s enterprise resource

planning system, automatically check for available

balances and alert users when funds dip below 10% of a project budget. Kola also introduced new project

management features in Maconomy that can be used to

schedule duties, view reports, and set deadlines for

various activities.

Marilyn Belarmino, a

researcher in Genetic Resources based at the Regional Center for

Africa in Arusha, Tanzania, said

goodbye to colleagues on 7 June

2012 after 3 1/2 years of service. During her tenure, Marilyn

developed low-cost seed drying

equipment to prepare and store seed of indigenous species, and helped create the

Healthy Diet Gardening Kit to promote home gardens

in Africa. She will return to

the Philippines to pursue opportunities in her home

country. All the best, Marilyn!

6 CORNUCOPIA

Welcome

Stefanie Schläger, research intern from the Leibniz-Institute of

Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Großbeeren Erfurt, Germany, will stay at AVRDC headquarters through July to work on “Response of legume pod

borer (Maruca vitrata) male moths to sex pheromone blends” under the

supervision of Srinivasan Ramasamy, Entomologist. Her internship is

funded by the German Academic Exchange Service.

Reshma Sanal, an undergraduate from Tamil Nadu Agricultural

University, Coimbatore, India is studying “Molecular characterization of legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata and/or its natural enemies” at

headquarters through the end of June under the supervision of Srinivasan

Ramasamy, Entomologist.

7 CORNUCOPIA

Man Wing Lorraine Wong, Research Intern from McGill University,

Canada, arrived at AVRDC headquarters for an eight-week internship (4 June to 27 July 2012). Lorraine will work on “Transition from home garden

to market garden: a better option in food and nutrition security for poor

households?” under the supervision of Ray-yu Yang, Nutritionist and co-

supervision of Victor Afari-Sefa, Agricultural Economist.

Jin-jui Lee (l), Field Laborer in Bulb Allium, retired on 30

May 2012. Ms. Lee joined the Center on 16 September 1973. We thank her for her 39 years of service to the Center and wish her

all the best!

Jin-jui Lee (l), and her supervisor Paul Gniffke, AVRDC Pepper Breeder.

Farewell

8 CORNUCOPIA

Visitors

On 28 May 2012:

Prof. Dr. Suchila Techawongstien, Associate Prof.

Dr. Sungcom Techawongstien,

and Associate Prof. Dr. Nutcharee

Siri from Khon Kaen University, Thailand and Sasiwimon

Boonanunt from Thailand’s

National Science and Technology Development Agency came to

AVRDC headquarters to meet with

Center scientists and assess the

progress of Patcharaporn

Suwor, a graduate student in the

Khon Kaen University Department of Plant Science and Agricultural

Resources. Patcharaporn, at

AVRDC headquarters for a six-

month internship, is researching molecular markers for anthracnose

resistance in pepper.

While in Taiwan for a biodiversity

conference in Taipei, Marissa

Markowitz made a special trip south to visit the Center. Marissa, a

student at the Maharishi University

of Management in Iowa, USA, is

studying food sustainability and agricultural development in

Mongolia and has conducted field

assessments there for various

international organizations, including the FAO. She read about

AVRDC in the Worldwatch

Institute’s State of the World 2011.

A group of 27 students from the

Department of Life Sciences,

National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan toured the

Demonstration Garden.

Greg Luther, AVRDC Technology

Dissemination Specialist and visitors in the

Demonstration Garden.

Marissa Markowitz (l) from Maharishi

University of Management , USA

A delegation of 6 vegetable

researchers led by Hu Hung, Deputy

Director General of the Institute of

Vegetables and Flowers,

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, People’s

Republic of China, visited the Center

on 31 May.

Willie Chen (r), AVRDC Assistant Specialist, Global Technology Dissemination and Chinese visitors led by Hu Hung (third from the left).

Ravi Srinivas and Prof.

Prabhushankar Ramojappa

Hiriyur from Super Agri Seeds Pvt.

Ltd., India came to headquarters from

5 - 7 June 2012 to learn about the Center’s biotechnology facilities. The

visitors shared information on the

work they carried out with AVRDC

lines at their research and

development center in India.

(l to r): Roland Schafleitner, AVRDC Molecular Genetics, Prabhushankar Ramojappa Hiriyur, and Ravi Srinivas.

Myeong-Cheoul Cho (l), AVRDC

Scientist-Pepper Breeding, led a

group of 10 agricultural

administrators and interpreters

from Korea to visit the AVRDC genebank on 5 June.

Begomovirus project begins in Kamphaeng Saen

On 1 May 2012, the inception

workshop for the project “Beating Begomoviruses: Better livelihoods

for farmers in tropical Asia with

begomovirus-resistant tomato, hot

pepper and mungbean and integrated disease management”

opened with 22 participants

representing the project partners from Germany (Plant Virus

Research Division c/o BBA,

Deutsche Sammlung von

Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH), India (Tamil Nadu

Agricultural University; AVRDC

South Asia), Thailand (Kasetsart University Kamphaeng Saen

Campus; AVRDC East and

Southeast Asia), Vietnam (Hanoi

University of Agriculture; Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences),

and AVRDC headquarters

(Taiwan). Annamai Damnet, Assistant to the Vice President of

Kasetsart University (KU),

Kamphaeng Saen Campus, on

behalf of Sombat Chinawong, Vice President of KU, gave the

welcome remarks and formally

opened the workshop at the Saen

Palm Training Home, Kamphaeng

Saen, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

Lawrence Kenyon, AVRDC

virologist and project leader,

facilitated the discussions during the four-day workshop, which

covered different project activities

in each country as well as the specific assignments of each

participating organization. On the

third day of the workshop, a KU

campus tour was organized by project partners Pissawan

Chiemsombat and Sirikul

Wasee. The group visited AVRDC East and Southeast Asia’s research

facilities and demonstration garden

located on the KU campus.

Sombat Chinawong gave the closing remarks on the last day of

the workshop.

The three year project (2012-2015)

funded by BMZ/GIZ aims to

improve the livelihoods of poor vegetable growers and contribute to

increased availability of health-

promoting, nutritious and

affordable vegetables to the poor of tropical Asia through cost-effective

and sustainable integrated disease

management systems, including the appropriate use of begomovirus

disease-resistant varieties.

9 NEWS FROM THE REGIONS

(Front row, l to r): K. Angappan, Robert J. Holmer, Annamai Damnet, Pissawan Chiemsombat, Sirikul Wasee, Lawrence Kenyon.

(Middle row, l to r): Sheila de Lima, Pishayapa Thongmalai, Ratchada Thongkrailad, Nguyen Thi Lan Hoa, Steve Kebasen, Amisa Larprom, Sopana Yule, Lito Montes.

(Back row, l to r): Manikanda Boopathi, Ramakrishnan Nair, Ha Viet Coung, Stephan Winter, Ramasamy Srinivasan, Roland Schafleitner, Narinder Dhillon, Wen Shi Tsai.

(Top): Workshop participants visit Kasetsart

University’s Plant Health Clinic. (Bottom): Participants with Sombat Chinawong, Vice President, KU Kamphaeng

Saen Campus (4th from left).



Promoting vegetable cultivation in Uzbekistan’s piedmont

In 2010 Uzbekistan launched a

program to establish school gardens and promote home

vegetable gardens in distant

districts to achieve its goal of

having healthy meals served at all educational institutions.

AVRDC Central Asia and the

Caucasus, the Tashkent State Agrarian University and the

Uzbek Research Institute of

Plant Industry set up a school

garden at Bostanlyk Agricultural College in May

2010 with assistance from the local

government and a regional Women’s Comity group. People

living in this piedmont zone of

Uzbekistan typically consume

indigenous vegetables and local varieties; they seldom have access

to new varieties or their seed.

New AVRDC vegetable varieties

released in Uzbekistan were studied

at the college to identify varieties

best adapted for cultivation in the area. After one year, AVRDC

conducted a workshop on vegetable

cultivation and food preparation for college students, and also invited

20 women householders and local

farmers to the event. Seed of

vegetable soybean, mungbean, yard-long bean, leafy cabbage and

daikon adapted to the climate and

growing conditions were distributed free to workshop

participants, along with recipes and

healthy cooking tips.

Another year on, the collaboration

has shown good results: At a

Pupils learn how to prepare seedbeds from an experienced home gardener.

(Left): Pupils of the Agricultural College are part of a new generation of vegetable growers in Uzbekistan. (Top): The best vegetable growers receive their awards.


workshop on “Integration of Education, Science

and Production” held at Bostanlyk Agricultural College on 24 May 2012, the women householders,

farmers, and heads of the college garden field

groups were recognized for the strides they had

made in vegetable crop cultivation and seed multiplication and distribution. They received gifts

and were applauded for their effort by more than

80 participants from Parliament, environmental organizations, farmers’ associations, local

government, women’s groups, the National

University, Tashkent State Agrarian University,

and the Uzbek Research Institute of Plant Industry.

The award winners aren’t resting on their laurels:

They transferred their experience by training a new group of women householders and students, and

distributed more than 40 kilograms of vegetable

seed to the new gardeners. The event drew the

attention of media across Uzbekistan.

The collaboration in the piedmont area will be

continued through the Education, Research and Production Integration Center established by the

International Center for Agricultural

Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), AVRDC, National University, Women’s Comity, and

(Top): Ravza Mavlyanova, Regional Coordinator, AVRDC Central Asia and the Caucasus, presents the results of collaborative research.

(Bottom): Meeting the media in the new Education, Research and Production Integration Center.

Bostanlyk Agricultural College. Center founders will

engage in joint efforts to develop vegetable production, diversify diets, promote nutrition, and increase family

incomes to improve livelihoods in the piedmont.




SRTT project enters a crucial phase

Commercial vegetable varieties in

India now change every couple of years—faster than either farmers or

researchers can keep up. This was

one of the challenges addressed in

the annual planning meetings of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT)

project “Improving vegetable

production and consumption for sustainable rural livelihoods in

Jharkhand and Punjab” held over

six days in early May.

The project is now at a critical

phase, with most research complete

and the need to involve new partners in the final scaling-up.

Donor representatives expressed

their continued support for the

project and encouraged planning for a second phase to work across

central India.

This year’s meetings in Ludhiana,

Punjab and in Ranchi, Jharkhand

included invited contributions from

the private seed sector and health and nutrition NGOs. The Chief

Guest in Jharkhand was the State

Head of the United Nations

Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Job Zachariah. He stressed the

importance of vegetables for

sustainable nutrition of poor tribal families and sought more

collaboration between initiatives in

home gardening and health and

nutrition.

More than 80 people participated

in the two planning meetings. Drs. Ray-yu Yang, Sandra Habicht

and Srinivasan Ramasamy from

headquarters joined AVRDC South

Asia staff in planning the research and extension activities for the fifth

and final year of the project.

Lively group sessions in both

workshops led by project

coordinator Vamsidhar Reddy

brainstormed ideas for sustainable scaling-up activities that were then

incorporated into the annual

workplan.

The project has tested more than

110 different vegetable varieties at

each location to come up with recommendations, but current

testing mechanisms cannot cope

with the rapid change in available

varieties. A combination of public and private testing will be used in

the future to give farmers timely

information to help choose the right varieties.

Vegetable seed supplies in Jharkhand entered a new era last

year when a local NGO began

contracting production of vegetable

seed lines and home garden packs for AVRDC. This type of

collaboration will be expanded and

the project now collates critical

market intelligence for the private seed sector to expand marketing of

the best varieties to smallholder

farmers.

In Punjab, engagement with the

private sector will be expanded to

bring down the cost of new net houses, and the full package of

practices for net house vegetable

production developed with Punjab

Agricultural University will be actively promoted. A large training

program involving both the public

and private sectors is planned.

At both locations nutritional

awareness camps will be organized

to promote the health benefits of

diversified home gardens. There is strong complementarity between

promoting kitchen gardens and

promoting health and nutrition, and there are many government

programs where the project’s home

garden model can be introduced.

The project will expand its

partnerships and training programs

to include new agricultural and

health NGOs. Existing partners specified requests for new

publications to support their

extension activities.

AVRDC South Asia Regional

Director Warwick Easdown said the

planning workshops were highly participatory and effective, and the

positive support from donors and

partners promises to make this

final scaling-up successful.

(l): The annual planning meeting of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) project held in Jharkhand, India. At far left, Srinivasan Ramasamy.

(r): TS Vamsidhar Reddy (r) and Ray-yu Yang (l) leading discussion in Jharkhand, India.

Group discussion in Jharkhand.




Improving nutrition for tribal communities in India

The more than 82 million people

living in India’s tribal communities are the country’s most nutritionally

disadvantaged group. Tribal

communities are predominantly

found in the northeast, west, center and far south of the country. They

comprise 49% of the poorest

quintile of India’s population, and contribute disproportionately to the

country’s low achievement of many

Millennium Development Goals.

A two-day brainstorming workshop

on “Addressing household level

food and nutritional security for tribal areas” was recently organized

in Chennai by Vigyan Prasar,

India’s national science

communication organization. Participants from the MS

Swaminathan Research

Foundation, AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center, the National

Institute of Nutrition and several

other government and NGO

organizations active in health, nutrition and horticulture in India

were invited to attend.

AVRDC South Asia Regional

Director Warwick Easdown and

Jharkhand site coordinator M. Ravishankar shared the

agricultural and nutritional impact

of the Sir Rata Tata Trust project on

tribal communities.

The program involved more than

two dozen presentations and a

group discussion to develop project proposals. Speakers from across

India confirmed that the health of

tribal women suffers most and deteriorates after adolescence.

Stunted from poor nutrition in

childhood, discriminated against,

often landless with more than two-thirds illiterate, and averaging up to

seven pregnancies before the age of

40, tribal women find it doubly difficult as the primary care givers

and nutritional gatekeepers for

their families.

Tribal communities are going

through a dietary transition, and

many nutritious traditional foods are being lost. In more traditional

communities more than 400 plant

species are eaten, but where cash cropping has taken over rice

consumption has increased and in

some communities the

consumption of green leafy vegetables is completely missing.

AVRDC’s partner in Jharkhand, Rekha Sinha from Birsa

Agricultural University, described

more than 70 different types of

indigenous leafy vegetables eaten by local tribal communities. She

said that the contribution of these

to overall nutrition and health

requires further study.

Some traditional tribal dietary

practices do promote health, and there is a need to build on these.

Changing dietary patterns takes

time and trust. Considerable

success has been achieved through schools and through well-trained

health workers. In some

communities almost 70% of people gained information about vitamin A

nutrition from their children’s

schoolteachers.

The workshop provided valuable

contacts for all participants and

about ten new research proposals were developed along with a similar

number of communication

initiatives. A follow-up meeting early next year is planned and

several joint initiatives will be

undertaken in the following

months.

(l): Participants addressed household-level food and nutritional security for tribal areas.

(r): Discussions during the Chennai tribal nutrition workshop held this May in India.


Lack of land for home gardens in peri‐urban Hyderabad

Despite a local preoccupation with

the price of vegetables, only 10% of people surveyed maintain home

gardens in the industrial area of

Hyderabad, India. This is in

contrast to most households in poor rural areas of India, where home

gardens are an essential feature of

daily life.

This was one of the conclusions of a

two-month study based on 40

interviews with farmers, traders and consumers conducted by

Swedish undergraduate interns

Karolin Andersson and Katarina Henriksson. Their

project work was supervised by

AVRDC South Asia and the

International Water Management Institute.

Lack of space is the major reason for the scarcity of peri-urban home

gardens, but a lack of knowledge as

well as poor water supply and busy urban lifestyles also appear to

contribute to residents’ reluctance

to supplement their food supply

with home-grown vegetables.

Despite industrial pollution in the

Patancheru district of Hyderabad, most people were not concerned

about the safety of locally grown

vegetables, and farmers treated

crops for their own use the same as

those for sale.

Most farmers had no idea what

chemicals they were spraying on

their crops and had little understanding of other crop inputs

such as compost. However, many

wash their vegetables carefully before consumption and can see the

value in home gardening for quality

produce.

Karolin and Katarina found that

complex marketing chains separate

farmers from consumers and price is the main driver of peri-urban

vegetable value chains. Farmers

have high labor costs and a lack of time, and regularly sell through

wholesalers rather than direct to

consumers for higher prices.

Consumers have little interest in how their vegetables are grown or

how this may affect quality.

A comparison between the peri-

urban area of Hyderabad and rural

areas of Jharkhand in northeast

India found that when land is not scarce people are more likely to

have a home garden, even in peri-

urban areas. The important influence of infrastructure such as

roads to access markets also

became apparent. In more isolated

rural areas home gardens play an

important role in improving the quality of a family’s diet and health,

and also generate additional

household income.

Project co-supervisor Warwick

Easdown said the study showed

some surprising results. “We expected peri-urban home gardens

to have a more important role and

the use of inputs such as compost

or waste water in growing vegetables to affect consumer

preferences more strongly,” he said.

The findings of the study provide opportunities to develop training

for consumers and farmers on

appropriate garden models and

crop management for health and improved nutrition.

Early morning traders’ market in Patancheru district.

(left): Interview with

80- year-old tomato

farmer in Yemkunta

district.

(right): Karolin

Andersson (third from

left) and Katarina

Henriksson (l) meet

home gardeners in

Ranchi, Jharkhand.

16 CORNUCOPIA

40 years of service to tropical agriculture

Four decades ago, a research and development institute dedicated to alleviating poverty and malnutrition in Asia by increasing

the supply and quality of vegetables was established in Taiwan. Today, AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center operates on a

global scale across Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Enjoy photos and excerpts from our long and fruitful history!

The Center’s International Hot Pepper Trial Network (INTHOPE) was initiated in 1988 to facilitate

the exchange and evaluation of popular hot pepper

landraces and elite germplasm across international test environments. The network aimed to introduce adapted

hot peppers into appropriate production regions, monitor

the performance of different hot pepper populations in

diverse environments, and collect information on Capsicum pathogen strains. Thirty-nine cooperators

representing 20 countries participated in the new

network.

In 1996 the network was renamed the International

Chili Pepper Nursery (ICPN) to conform with international standards for naming nurseries. Emphasis

shifted to accessions suited for production in hot, rainy

seasons, and the number of entries in the nursery was

standardized at 20. In 2002 the annual ICPN releases offered new, advanced selections from AVRDC’s pepper

breeding program with special emphasis on multiple

disease resistance, and reduced the number of entries to 10, including three long-term check varieties.

International Sweet Pepper Nursery (ISPN) entries

were similarly reduced from 10 germplasm accessions to

four newly bred selections focusing on improved horticultural type, disease resistance, heat tolerance, plus

one check variety. To date, 21 distinct arrays in the ICPN

and ISPN series have been released. As many as 100 sets of ICPN trial seed have been distributed to cooperators in

up to 71 different countries. AVRDC pepper breeders

continue to develop and distribute new ICPN and ISPN

editions around the world for evaluation, contributing to the diverse array of peppers available to farmers.

AVRDC card style USB (4GB):

Price: NT$350.0

Fresh, 8 June 2012

Fresh is published bi-weekly by

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center P.O. Box 42, Shanhua, Tainan 74199 Taiwan

Editor: Maureen Mecozzi

Graphic design: Kathy Chen

Photographic guidance: Ming-Che Chen

Contributors: Warwick Easdown, Dyno

Keatinge, Steve Kebasen, Lawrence Kenyon,

Jen Wen Luoh, Ravza Mavlyanova, Lydia

Wu

Comments, ask a question, add a name to our

mailing list: [email protected]

www.avrdc.org

USB in your wallet

With this handy 4 GB USB

card you’ll never be caught without a way to save

important photos or files.

The small USB stick slides

out of the card for easy use. A good reminder to eat your

vegetables and back up your

data! Comes in an attractive magnetic latch box.

Common ground for growth of Asia’s seed...

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