AVRDC’s experiences within Marketing of Indigenous Vegetables – A Case Study on Commercialization of African Eggplant M.L.Chadha AVRDC-Regional Center for Africa

AVRDC The World Vegetable Center, Regional Center for Africa, located in Arusha, Tanzania is the main center for research, development, training and information on indigenous vegetables. It works in close collaboration with National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES), Regional and International organizations, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and the farmers in Africa. AVRDC-RCA recently invited its stakeholders to chart the future scope of work of AVRDC in Africa. Out of the three identified priority themes, one was to work on Indigenous Vegetables (IVs) for the next ten years. This paper aims to show work undertaken at AVRDC-RCA to promote indigenous vegetables by identifying new promising lines/varieties with high productivity under a wide range of environmental conditions, better horticultural characteristics and market opportunities. Additionally, the paper will discuss a case study on one of the selected indigenous vegetables, the African Eggplant, and use it as an example to talk about the growing popularity and benefits of growing indigenous vegetables in Africa.