S24 - Session O1 - Keynote: Nutritional and health attributes of fruits and vegetables: beneficial food security

Authors: Bhimanagouda S. Patil *

The University of California, Davis was recently awarded funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development to lead a consortium to implement a new phase of the Horticulture Innovation Lab (HIL) using a locally led, globally supported research approach to reduce poverty and malnutrition through the horticulture. With this fresh perspective, the program will flip typical development models, with priorities developed and activities led by local actors, supported by our global consortium. Through this locally-led approach, we expect to enhance adoption of new technologies by industry, enhance availability of healthy fruits and vegetables, and increase capacity for further horticulture research and development. This locally-led approach means that the UC Davis led consortium will not prescribe its perceived horticulture sector challenges and opportunities within a region, rather we will engage and partner with regional experts and stakeholder leaders, including the private sector, to determine a set of priorities within each focus region. Our intent is to engage, holistically, with the in-country network we will identify to develop projects where expertise from our consortium and elsewhere in the Global North can support local efforts. There will be a collaborative approach to finding solutions to challenges or pursuing untapped opportunities in the horticulture sector, and their associated social impacts. This approach recognizes and builds on the local and regional expertise in public and private institutions as well as the expertise that can be contributed from experts at U.S. universities and the private sector. This model will increase engagement on a systemic level in-country and consequently promote both individual and institutional capacity. A reporting of the approach and findings of the locally-led horticulture assessments in four regions will be made, along with lessons learned from our new locally-led, globally-supported approach to horticulture for development.