Humidtropics, a CGIAR Research Program led by IITA

Putting Nutrition Data to Work in the Community in Vietnam

by Leave a Comment

In the third of her blog reports from Vietnam, Jessica Raneri, Nutrition Programme Specialist, Bioversity International, explains some of the emerging findings from research in the Mai Son district in Son La Province to assess local food biodiversity and identify opportunities for improving diet quality and diversity. In my last blog, I reported on collecting baseline data from 400 households in four rural and farming communes of Mai Son district in Son La Province. This stage was to identify the current availability, access and use of agricultural biodiversity, nutrition knowledge and … [Read more...]

Bridging the Hunger Gap with Improved Leafy Vegetables in Cameroon’s Smallholder Cocoa Farms

by Leave a Comment

Cameroon is one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa; 209,905 tons of cocoa beans were produced in 2014. Cocoa is the main cash crop of the Centre region of Cameroon and one of the main export commodities of the country. However, unstable international cocoa prices coupled with weather variability have increased food insecurity and malnourishment among cocoa farmers. Furthermore, even when cocoa prices reached high peaks in international markets, smallholder farmers received only 3.5 to 6.4 % of the final value of the chocolate bar. With highly volatile cocoa prices and … [Read more...]

Vegetable Innovation Platform in Vietnam Bears Fruit – and Vegetables!

by Leave a Comment

With suitable agroclimatic conditions, low labor costs, and good infrastructure, the Northwestern uplands of Vietnam have the potential to move from the production of low value staple crops into the production of high value fruit and vegetables. Vegetable production in the area is increasing, albeit slowly. The change in production systems requires coordinated action on the part of farmers, input suppliers, government agencies, and vegetable traders. In 2014, Humidtropics set up an Innovation Platform on vegetables to promote this process, enhance collaboration, and build trust among the … [Read more...]