Taiwan seeks greater cooperation with Philippine on vegetable production

MANILA, Philippines — Taiwan-based World Vegetable Center (WVC) is looking to boost its cooperation with the Philippines to raise vegetable production and consumption.

WVC director general Marco Wopereis met with Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) OIC director Gerald Glenn Panganiban and assistant director Herminigilda Gabertan last Jan. 3

The meeting centered on strengthening the BPI and WVC collaboration on value chain development and other potential projects that can increase vegetable production and consumption in the country.

WVC is a non-profit international institute conducting research and training to raise awareness about the health benefits of vegetables with the goal of alleviating global poverty through strategic interventions.

In its 2021 annual report, WVC conducted a study on the effects of COVID-19 on healthy diets in Thailand and the Philippines.

The study was funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and assessed changes in food policy and in the cost and affordability of healthy diets.

Based on the study, WVC said COVID exacerbated policy issues existing before the pandemic, particularly around policy implementation.

These two ASEAN countries had poor rates of vegetable consumption even before the pandemic.

Moreover, affordability of healthy diet dropped for low-skilled workers in both countries due to unemployment and livelihood disruption.

WVC is looking at a second phase of study to understand the experience of food system change for marginalized populations in each country.

Based on its website, the Philippines is one of its project countries for its Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH), which is being done in partnership with One CGIAR.

To be implemented from 2022 to 2025, the FRESH initiative aims to use an end-to-end approach to increase fruit and vegetable intake, improve diet quality, nutrition and health while also improving livelihoods, empowering women and youth and mitigating negative environmental impacts.

At the end of this first year, the project should have identified clear entry points for testing novel methods and approaches to promote safe food production (and consumption) of vegetables in urban environments.

WVC is also looking to implement Taiwan-Southeast Asia Vegetable Initiative (TAsVI), an expansion of its Taiwan Africa Vegetable Initiative (TAVI).

TAsVI aims to strengthen international collaboration to rescue and safeguard vegetable biodiversity in Asia while enhancing climate resilience, health, and nutrition for the current and future generations.