The importance of traditional vegetables in drylands

Session: The session will first provide an overview of WorldVeg’s efforts in using traditional African vegetables in the region, based on its collection in Arusha, Tanzania, the largest in Africa. The overview will single out amaranth as well as traditional vegetables useful in drylands. Second, case studies will be provided of scalable intervention, particularly related to homegardens, gender and resilience.

Biographical information: Thomas Dubois is the director of the Arusha-based World Vegetable Center in Eastern and Southern Africa (WorldVeg). He obtained his PhD at Cornell University, and oversees the activities. He has 15+ years’ experience in sub-Saharan Africa with international research organizations; working on banana, maize and rice. His research has been published in 100+ books and book chapters, and peer-reviewed publications; he received the CGIAR Young Scientist Award in 2006 for his work on endophytes. Ralph Roothaert obtained his PhD at Wageningen University and is the Flagship Program Leader of ‘Healthy Diets’, one of the Center’s four flagships. He oversees all work on a global scale related to improving nutrition and health using vegetables. He has worked in Africa for 21 years and in Southeast Asia for 3 years. He started as a development worker with the Voluntary Service Overseas in Nigeria, then worked as an agricultural scientist with the CGIAR (ICRAF in Kenya, CIAT in the Philippines, and ILRI in Ethiopia). He also worked for Farm Africa in Kenya, and was Associate Country Director for Oxfam GB in Tanzania.

Co-Presenter Slides