Turning the tides one vegetable at a time.
Climate change has unleashed its effects on almost every country on the globe. Some are affected worse than others. Due to all of these changing conditions caused by climate change one factor that is greatly affected is food security. There are millions of people in the world who deal with food insecurity on a daily basis.The mission of the World Vegetable Center is through “Research and development to realize the potential of vegetables for healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods.” The World Vegetable Center has dedicated time and energy into lessening the toll on people who live in the countries that are being affected the hardest by climate change. Research involving drought and flood tolerance, grafting of certain vegetables, and more are being done in efforts of coming up with new techniques to deal with climate change. A development that was driven by the center where the production of tomatoes and brassicas became reality in tropical lowlands for the first time. Commercial tomato varieties are being bred with genes from wild tomato varieties that just so happen to succeed in more arid climates, to show the drought tolerance of tomatoes.
The center fights against food insecurity through the research and development of vegetables. These aren’t just being bred for the challenges we face now but also for the ones that may come in the future. Maintaining advances on vegetables to become more climate-resilient meaning that they can adjust to the extreme weather as well as the higher temperatures. Unlocking the potential within traditional vegetable varieties for the increase in income generation and nutritional values. Catering to specific production systems by locating species that are well suited for them. Lowering the need for pesticides by developing pest and disease resistant vegetables. All while building up the vegetables nutritional value.
There are some vegetables known more on a global scale than others. Some of these global vegetables are tomatoes and peppers just to name a few. These vegetables can be a major source of income for producers especially smallholders. These vegetables can be sold on the global scale due to them being popular worldwide. Unlike amaranth and spider plants which are more traditional plants. These vegetables are more commonly found in specific areas and hold a cultural importance to that area. Traditional vegetables are rather easy to grow, along with them being important sources of food and nutrition in times of insufficiency.
A group of crops that I have worked closely with at the World Vegetable Center is legume crops. There are many different crops that fall under this category but, generally legume crops produce a pod that rips right down the middle equally like soybeans and mung beans. Not all legume crops produce pods for example alfalfa and clover. I have experienced working with soybeans a lot and a little bit with mung beans. There are some legume crops that aren’t edible and those crops are used to maintain the health of the soil, especially in keeping up the nitrogen levels. Legume crops are present in most parts of the world, they also happen to be a rather inexpensive crop that grows at a fast rate. Another benefit to legume crops is the fact that they are high in proteins. Vegetables are the key to us accomplishing the World Vegetable Center’s mission of healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods.
