Up to $12.5 million is required to implement a plan aimed at rescuing vegetable species threatened with extinction in Africa, according to the World Vegetable Centre. Dubbed the “African Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan,” it was launched in Kigali on the side-lines of the Africa Food Systems Forum, a continental event that is attracting over 5,000 delegates to discuss agriculture and ways to improve food security. ALSO READ: AFS Forum: Farmers, experts make case for increased soil testing technology The plan has four components namely rescue and conservation, generating and sharing seed and information, partnerships and enabling policies as well as education and mainstreaming. “This is a 10-year roadmap to collect, conserve, share and use vegetable genetic resources to improve nutrition, income and climate resilience across Africa,” said Maarten van Zonneveld, the Head of Genetic Resources at the World Vegetable Centre. He noted that Africa is a global hotspot of vegetable biodiversity, but African vegetables are poorly conserved in genebanks. Genebanks are storehouses of seeds or vegetative tissue, kept in low humidity and temperature, to help maintain genetic diversity. “Only one-third of African countries have a genebank and these genebanks are often not functioning well,” he said. ALSO READ: Rwanda looks to cut vegetable seed imports “Vegetable biodiversity is declining rapidly as part of the general agrobiodiversity loss. So, act now to save Africa's vegetable heritage before it is lost forever,” he added. A pilot phase of the plan was carried out with support of the Taiwan Africa Vegetable Initiative from 2021 to 2024, to conserve and use African vegetable biodiversity to address malnutrition. As part of the pilot project, over 17,000 vegetable varieties have been collected in Benin, Eswatini, Madagascar and Tanzania for rescue. So far, achievements made through the pilot phase include two newly constructed and three upgraded African genebanks, in addition to training some 174 African genebank staff. ALSO READ: City wetlands earmarked for vegetable growing Some of the goals of the general rescue plan include addressing malnutrition and poverty. Saving indigenous vegetables in Rwanda Birungi Korutaro, the Chief Executive Officer of Kilimo Trust, an agricultural organisation working in Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, said there is a need for regenerative agricultural techniques to conserve indigenous vegetable species in Rwanda. She pointed out that vegetable farming in Rwanda is facing a number of challenges. “One of the major challenges in the vegetable value chain is seed. In the seed systems, farmers cannot get good quality seed. So we support in providing the seed,” she said. She added that in order to prevent indigenous vegetables from disappearing, there is a need for educating children and others about the benefits of vegetables. “Studies show that 2 billion people globally lack basic nutrients and minerals which can be gotten from vegetables,” she said. Dany Hakizimana, an agronomist, at Agrah Care, a Rwandan start-up that focuses on farm services suggested a centre that conserves vegetable species and multiplies their seeds to avoid extinction. “If nothing is done, some vegetable species might disappear,” he said.
