Building a seed business in Madagascar:
One woman’s journey from subsistence farmer to leader of a thriving cooperative
In a village in Madagascar’s Vakinankaratra region, in the country’s Central Highlands, Farasoa Claudine Rasoanasolo, once grew vegetables like African nightshade, amaranth, chilli pepper, and African eggplant for home consumption. Like many smallholder farmers, she focused on feeding her family, with limited opportunities to generate income. Yields were quite low due to infertile soils, low-input […]
Breaking Benin’s vegetable bottlenecks:
Water, skills and farmer networks drive five-fold growth
For years, vegetable farmers in Benin, had both land and demand. What they lacked was water. Irrigation sources were scarce and often distant. Many farmers had to carry watering cans over long distances, limiting what they could grow. Most cultivated only small plots, and production frequently stopped altogether during the dry season. This resulted in […]
Purging a pepper plague:
WorldVeg fights black thrips in India’s chili fields
In early 2021, chili farmers in Bengaluru, in India’s southern Karnataka state, noticed something strange. The flowers and leaves of their plants were covered in tiny dark insects with thin, elongated bodies. They were used to dealing with attacks by whiteflies, leafhoppers, broad mites, and several different kinds of thrips. But these insects looked different. […]
Promoting safe vegetables in Mali:
Origin labelling builds consumer trust
Vegetable production in the peri-urban areas of Bamako, Mali, takes place under different conditions and in different ways. Farmers use different sources of water and apply a range of inputs, including agrochemicals, to protect their crops. These can all affect the safe production of vegetables, influencing consumer perceptions and demand. Against this backdrop, the SafeVeg […]
Empowering communities through sustainable nutrition
In many rural communities in northern Tanzania, daily diets are based on starchy staples such as maize, rice, and cassava, with limited consumption of vegetables – particularly leafy greens. While such staples provide energy, they often lack essential vitamins and minerals needed for good health. As a result, poor dietary diversity contributes to malnutrition, frequent […]
From the school canteen to the family table:
How vegetables consumed at school are changing eating habits in Benin
School meals reach more than one million children in Benin, improving student attendance and reducing malnutrition. But for a long time, vegetables – rich in vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients – were missing from children’s plates, because they are perishable, difficult to store, and relatively expensive. To address this, the World Food Programme (WFP) and partners […]
So-lar, so good:
“Life changing” solar dryers support pepper and tomato farmers in northern Nigeria
Trials of parabolic solar dryers in Kano State, northern Nigeria, suggest they can significantly boost incomes for smallholder pepper farmers, and help tomato farmers preserve produce they cannot sell fresh, according to recent work by Worldveg. Pepper and tomato play a crucial role in food security, income generation and regional trade across West Africa, including […]
Young farmers in northern Tanzania are creating new opportunities through vegetables
Across northern Tanzania, young farmers are transforming small vegetable plots into thriving market gardens, thanks to support from the Youth Entrepreneurship for the Future of Food and Agriculture (YEFFA) project. Implemented by the World Vegetable Center with support from AGRA, the project is testing and scaling the Grow Green Model, a practical approach designed to […]