Ambitions
The 2023-2033 CIRAD roadmap for the horticulture value chain sets out five priority research ambitions:
- To co-design innovative for sustainable, fair water management on tropical and Mediterranean horticultural farms.
- To co-build attractive, sustainable solutions for managing pests, diseases and soil fertility on horticultural farms.
- To identify and understand the levers for more varied fruit and vegetable consumption in the global South, and put socio-technical and organisational innovation to good use to benefit and support those levers.
- To understand, assess and boost the multifunctionality of horticulture in agri-urban and rural territories.
- To explore the opportunities offered by digital technology in the horticulture sector, to benefit smallholdings and family farms in the global South.
Research units working on this value chain
The specificities of the horticulture value chain mean that it has particular links with other value chains covered by CIRAD, such as Banana and plantain, Rice, and Roots and tubers. This involves many research units, including:
Horticulture is seen as an essential factor in food security and safety and health worldwide. Horticultural systems are also a major source of income and jobs for the poorest populations in tropical areas. In this context, is it possible to ensure high, sustainable production of safe, quality fruit and vegetables? The aim of UR HortSys is to establish the principles of agroecology of tropical horticultural systems with a view to developing sustainable cropping systems, in partnership with local players.
UR GECO conducts functional agro-ecology research and places its expertise at the disposal of the drive to innovate in partnership so as to improve the environmental, economic and social sustainability of banana and pineapple cropping systems. In the long term, its research aims to support the agro-ecological transition away from intensive monocultures (banana, pineapple), and to contribute to the emergence of resilient cropping systems that perform better in agronomic terms, so as to help ensure food security in southern countries (plantain bananas).
The capacity to produce improved planting material suited to different and changing growing conditions is an absolute priority in order to reduce the environmental impact of farming systems and boost their sustainability.
UMR PVBMT develops innovative control methods against pests, diseases and weeds in agrosystems, but also new ways of conserving indigenous forest environments. Its associated research and training concern tropical crop protection and biodiversity preservation in terrestrial ecosystems.
UMR MOISA comprises around a hundred people working on the social sciences (economics, management/marketing, sociology, and political science). It aims to understand how the practices of stakeholders in value chains and institutional mechanisms influence food security and safety, and the sustainability of agriculture and food.
UMR PHIM builds knowledge and solutions to improve plant health and boost productivity and quality within a context in which an estimated 20 to 40% of agricultural output worldwide is lost due to damage from pests and diseases.
Products and services
PixFruit project
Training
Available training
Partnerships
Several platforms in partnership for research and training (dPs) have projects relating to horticulture: DIVECOSYS in West Africa; Forests and biodiversity in Madagascar; MALICA in Southeast Asia; Biocontrôle OI in the Indian Ocean, and SIRMA in North Africa. Those dPs focus mainly on sustainable environmental management in rural and urban areas and on farming systems, with the aim of meeting local people's needs (such as water or fuelwood resources). They make an indirect contribution to developing the horticulture value chain, for instance by developing production operations that improve local people's incomes and f and nutrition security (eg cloves and lychees in the case of Forests and biodiversity in Madagascar).
CIRAD also works in close partnership with several institutional partners in France (INRAE, IRD, Institut Agro, CTIFL, Aprifel, ITAB, ARMEFLHOR and IT2 in the French overseas regions) and worldwide (FAO, ISHS, CORAF/WECARD, Alliance of Bioversity international and CIAT).
Lastly, it has projects in partnership with:
- universities: UCAD and Gaston Berger in Senegal, UAC and Parakou in Benin
- NGOs: AgriSud International, AFSA, AVSF, enda pronat
- producer organisations
- other civil society players.
