[ad_1]
VEGETABLE traders have been urged to use the Middle East market.
In recent remarks, World Vegetable Center regional director Gabriel Rugalema said there was a high demand for a variety of vegetables, including cabbage, spinach and chard in the transcontinental region of Afro-Eurasia.
“When farmers grow and sell vegetables, they increase their income because vegetables are high-value crops,” he said. “This increase in personal income also contributes to the national economy,” Rugalema explained during a field visit to the Arusha-based center’s media.
According to Rugalema, the government has created an enabling environment for traders to export their products abroad, urging them to take advantage of that opportunity.
He mentioned South Africa, Kenya and Ghana as countries whose economies depended on exports, mainly vegetables.
“Tanzania has enough local experts to grow vegetables,” he said. “With a greater government emphasis on horticulture, farmers can obtain seeds, inputs and the knowledge they need to produce vegetables and improve their livelihoods.”
He added that accessing affordable quality seeds was one of the main challenges faced by vegetable farmers.
The World Vegetable Center has the largest collection of vegetable seeds in Africa, with more than 3,000 samples, including more than 2,400 samples of nutritious traditional African vegetables such as amaranth, spider plant, Ethiopian kale and African eggplant.
The breeders at the center use a variety of plant germplasm, as well as holdings from the main WorldVeg genebank in Taiwan, with more than 63,000 samples.
In 2019, a total of 49,126 farmers received training in vegetable production through WorldVeg projects in the region and around 10,558 farmers received seed kits for planting home gardens.
