Hosted by World Vegetable Center. AfricaVeg is a new public–private initiative led by the World Vegetable Center to strengthen Africa’s vegetable breeding and seed innovation ecosystem.
GFAiR interview with Dr. Gabriel Rugalema — Regional Director, WorldVeg.
Why vegetables matter for Africa
Africa has enormous vegetable diversity, including traditional and indigenous crops such as amaranth, African eggplant, okra, jute mallow, spider plant and roselle.
Many of these crops are nutritionally rich, adapted to local climates and important to household diets and livelihoods. Yet their potential remains underdeveloped. In many countries, farmers face limited access to quality seed, improved varieties, technical knowledge and reliable markets.
WorldVeg's work reflects a broader understanding of food-system transformation: improving diets is not only about producing more calories. It is also about increasing the diversity, nutritional quality and resilience of what people grow and eat.
The Center describes its mission as contributing to healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods through greater diversity in what we grow and eat. Its work spans climate resilience, healthy diets, vegetable biodiversity, economic empowerment, urban food systems, and food safety and loss reduction.
From better varieties to better businesses
One of the most interesting aspects of AfricaVeg is that it recognizes that breeding a good vegetable variety is only the beginning.
A new variety must move from the laboratory and research station into a seed company, then to farmers, markets and ultimately consumers.
That requires a functioning ecosystem connecting:
- Public agricultural research institutions
- Universities and scientists
- Vegetable breeders
- African seed companies
- Farmers and farmer organizations
- Investors
- Markets and food businesses
- Regional and continental agricultural organizations
This “last mile” between scientific innovation and farmers is critical. WorldVeg has emphasized that AfricaVeg is designed to strengthen precisely this pathway by connecting breeding, seed systems, seed companies, markets and investment.
The initiative therefore represents a shift from thinking about vegetable breeding as an isolated research activity toward seeing it as an innovation and investment ecosystem.
The forgotten opportunity: African vegetables
AfricaVeg is arriving at a time when there is growing recognition of the value of traditional African vegetables.
These crops have sometimes been overlooked by formal agricultural research and commercial seed systems despite their nutritional and environmental potential.
WorldVeg and its partners are now working to conserve and make better use of this biodiversity. More than 17,000 accessions have been collected under the African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan, with most stored in Africa's Vegetable Genebank in Arusha, Tanzania, and more than 5,000 backed up in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
The challenge is therefore no longer simply to preserve diversity. It is to turn diversity into opportunity.
That means developing varieties farmers want to grow, seed companies can commercialize, consumers want to eat, and investors can support.
Related
- S01 — Horticultural Genetic Resources and their Usefulness for Breeding covered horticultural genetic resources and Crop Wild Relatives. Its scientific committee included Chris Ojiewo (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) / Kenya), Ehsan Dulloo (Bioversity International / Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and based in Mauritius) Paula Bramel (independent consultant / genetic resources specialist, with extensive previous work with Bioversity International and the Crop Trust) Sandhya Gupta (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India) and others working on genetic resources and crop diversity.
- FAO side event at IHC2026 on 24 August 2026 entitled: “Unlocking the full potential of fruits and vegetables for the transformation of agrifood systems”
Presentation @9:33 by Guido Santini, Programme Coordinator, Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP), FAO, of an upcoming report (April 2027) Unlocking the Full Potential of Fruits and Vegetables Globally. He gave the preliminary results and future directions.
Related:
- Established in 2018 as a joint initiative of the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) and the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), the AVBC is a unique public-private partnership providing members with early access to WorldVeg’s improved breeding lines and research expertise.
- In 2025, AVBC members gathered at WorldVeg’s Eastern and Southern Africa office in Arusha, Tanzania, for a three-day meeting that brought together representatives from seed companies and institutions across Africa, Europe, and Asia.
- The Consortium fosters close connections between breeders, seed companies, pathologists, entomologists, and farmers, ensuring that innovations in vegetable breeding reach those who need them most. By empowering seed companies and promoting stronger breeding programs, AVBC is paving the way for more resilient and productive vegetable production in Africa.
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