WVC gets support to improve vegetable farming
12/03/2024
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.