Main scientific disciplines:
Plant breeding, genetics, data science, entomology, plant pathology, crop physiology, agroecology, agronomy, and postharvest science.
Key areas of research:
Vegetable breeding, biodiversity, plant health, soil health, seed health, postharvest research, and omics.
Main type of innovation:
Genomic and phenomic tools to capture key traits, specialized populations to support trait discovery and breeding, high-performance vegetable breeding lines, packages of sustainable production practices, decision support tools for vegetable farmers, post-harvest and processing technologies.
This program takes an integrated approach to enhance the resilience, sustainability, and productivity of vegetable systems. It combines varietal development with research on agroecological practices and innovations in food safety and postharvest methods.
The goal is to ensure that diverse, high-quality, and safe vegetables are produced sustainably while supporting livelihoods, especially under climate and resource constraints.
At the heart of the program are WorldVeg genebanks in Taiwan and Tanzania, which serve as critical resources for the conservation, characterization, and availability of vegetable biodiversity. Research focuses on optimizing the access and quality of these genetic materials. Breeding programs leverage this biodiversity and apply advanced tools such as genomics-assisted selection and phenotypic prediction to accelerate the breeding process.
Target crops include a range of vegetables with high economic or nutritional value, such as tomato; pepper (chili, sweet, habanero); cucurbits (bitter gourd, tropical pumpkin, ridge gourd, sponge gourd); legumes (mung bean, urd bean, vegetable soybean); amaranth; African eggplant; and okra. This crop portfolio adapts to evolving stakeholder needs. Breeding consortia harness the strengths of the private sector to develop commercial varieties and deliver them to millions of vegetable farmers and gardeners worldwide.
The program provides a comprehensive examination of soil health, plant health, and their links to human health in close collaboration with the social sciences and nutrition program. Priorities include optimizing agroecological and regenerative farming practices, sustainable pest and disease management, and strengthening climate resilience as well as farmers’ adaptive capacity. Improved irrigation and postharvest technologies are key focus areas, especially those that reduce food loss, ensure safety, and suit smallholder conditions.
Research also strengthens seed systems to expand access to high-quality, climate-resilient seeds and promotes diversification of cereal-based systems with nutrient-rich vegetables and legumes. Through close collaboration with social sciences, the program integrates market intelligence, participatory approaches, and policy engagement to ensure that research outputs effectively meet the needs of farmers, consumers, and broader value chain actors, fostering sustainable and inclusive vegetable production systems.
Examples of this program’s work:
Main scientific disciplines:
Agricultural economics, public health and nutrition, and rural sociology.
Key areas of research:
Farm management, food systems research (including consumer behavior, food environments, and food policy), gender research, agricultural marketing and value chains, and impact evaluation.
Main type of innovation:
Public-private partnerships, scaling strategies, innovative business models such as vegetable business networks (VBNs), social and behavioral change initiatives, interventions aimed at vegetable demand creation, and supportive policy measures.
This program complements the biological sciences program by focusing on the human dimensions of food systems. It examines the behavioral, social, and institutional drivers that influence vegetable production, marketing, and consumption.
Using a food systems approach, the program explores barriers to vegetable consumption, particularly among groups vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies, such as young children, pregnant and lactating women, low-income households, adolescents, and the elderly. It designs and tests innovative solutions to promote vegetable consumption and partners with stakeholders to scale successful initiatives.
The program works closely with the biological sciences program to accelerate the adoption of improved technologies, including better seeds and enhanced soil and plant health solutions. It identifies and addresses bottlenecks at the farm, market, and policy levels – for example, challenges in adopting biopesticides. It also seeks to optimize scaling strategies, conducting real-world experiments to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different approaches, such as distributing seed samples of improved vegetable varieties to farmers.
Policy analysis is another key focus, covering issues related to vegetable seeds, biopesticides, retail markets, and food vendors. The program aims to foster an enabling institutional environment that supports increased production and consumption of safe vegetables.
Finally, the program conducts impact evaluations and systematic reviews of policy and technological interventions in the vegetable sector to build a strong evidence base on what works and what does not, ultimately promoting greater vegetable production and consumption.
Examples of this program’s work: