GlobalHort: now we are five!
31/03/2011 - Press release
On 23 March 2006, in Montpellier, the Global Horticulture Initiative, GlobalHort, was launched, with a view to promoting the potential of horticulture, primarily fruit and vegetables, and thus make a more effective contribution to reducing malnutrition and poverty worldwide. The fifth anniversary celebration, to be held on 8 April 2011, at Agropolis International (Montpellier), will be an opportunity of taking stock of this "generous idea " supported by the international community and centring on the Millennium Development Goals.
It was in 2005 that a global assessment of horticulture in developing countries (Global Horticulture Assessment, ISHS Publications ) observed a lack of visibility and coordination over the whole of the horticultural sector and horticultural research for development. GlobalHort arose from this situation and a commitment by a number of international organizations, including CIRAD, the AVRDC and the ISHS, which were the founder members (the FAO has since joined the consortium).
"We wanted to give the scattered supply chains, stakeholders and organizations concerned the possibility of having a single voice to explain the substantial assets of horticulture and to join forces to fight malnutrition and poverty worldwide ", Rémi Kahane, a CIRAD researcher who is GlobalHort Executive Secretary, explains. "Horticulture generates more jobs and economic value per unit area than any other agricultural activity. In a natural way, and at smallholder level, it combines a varied diet and nutritional value, a source of health and wellbeing, and a significant increase in income" .
Jacky Ganry, another CIRAD researcher, adds "above and beyond its traditional role in rural areas, horticulture plays a specific role in urban areas as a source of a balanced diet, and also of stable jobs, recreation areas and wellbeing (gardening, and social and cultural links). There is also growing evidence of the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables in the fight against dietary deficiencies and chronic diseases, which have exploded recently in the South ".
Stocktake
In line with the spirit of GlobalHort, based on exchanges and dialogue between all the stakeholders and partners in tropical and Mediterranean agriculture, Montpellier and its scientific community were chosen for a stocktake of the first five years of the Global Horticulture Initiative.
On 8 April 2011, GlobalHort will thus be looking back at the operations undertaken and the success of the "dream of seamless coordination and inclusive partnership
", as Rémi Kahane puts it.
The list of major events that have involved stakeholders and mobilized decision-makers already points towards great success, thanks to a strong commitment on the part of developing countries. The international symposia organized by GlobalHort over the past five years have shown that horticulture can be an effective tool for economic, social and cultural development as part of national and international projects.
However, there has been a lack of basic financial support to ensure its sustainable, independent activity. The race for funding has sometimes revealed weaknesses in terms of institutional structure and commitment on the part of the various partners. Nevertheless, as the researchers involved insist: "five years' loyal service to the sector as a whole has built a degree of confidence that should provide the initiative with renewed momentum ":
• new partners such as the FAO or
University of California, Davis,
• a strategic position in Rome, at the FAO and near the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (
GFAR) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (
IFAD),
• new ambitions in terms of training for training staff, coordination of platforms and leadership of regional networks.
These various prospects and presentations will be discussed in Montpellier on 8 April 2011, and followed by a round table on the "Place of horticulture in the international agendas on food security, role and impact of a coordinating organization ", led by Bernard Hubert, President of Agropolis International.
- Category: Coming up