World Vegetable Center
The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) (), previously known as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC), is an international, nonprofit institute for vegetable research and development. It was founded in 1971 in Shanhua, southern Taiwan, by the Asian Development Bank, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United States and South Vietnam. WorldVeg aims to reduce malnutrition and alleviate poverty in developing nations through improving production and consumption of vegetables. History The World Vegetable Center was founded as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) in 1971 by the Asian Development Bank, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United States and South Vietnam. The main campus was opened in 1973. In 2008 the center was rebranded as the World Vegetable Center. For the first 20 years of its existence the World Vegetable Center was a major global sweet potato research center with over 1,600 a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shanhua District
Shanhua District () is a suburban district of Tainan, Taiwan. Until 25 December 2010, it was an urban township in the dissolved Tainan County, which is now merged with the original Tainan City to form a single special municipality. History Shanhua was inhabited by the Taiwanese aboriginal tribe of Siraya, who called it Bakaloan (transliterated into ) (see also Anding, bordering to the southwest). It was one of the four major towns established by the tribe. In 1625, the Dutch East India Company was driven back by the aborigines while trying to collect bamboo. The Dutch, however, were able to conquer the town in 1635, and started setting up schools and churches in the area, calling the place Tevoran (see modern-day Yujing). They encouraged Han settlers to cultivate the place. In the Siege of Fort Zeelandia, Koxinga drove the Europeans out of Taiwan. Under the Kingdom of Tungning, Bakaloan was governed as Sian-hoa Village () of ''Tien-hsing'' County (). According to the ''Sh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Micronutrient
Micronutrients are nutrient, essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for example, humans and other animals require numerous vitamins and Mineral (nutrient), dietary minerals, whereas plants require specific minerals. For human nutrition, micronutrient requirements are in amounts generally less than 100 milligrams per day, whereas nutrient, macronutrients are required in gram quantities daily. The minerals for humans and other animals include 13 elements that originate from Earth's soil and are not synthesized by living organisms, such as calcium and iron. Micronutrient requirements for animals also include vitamins, which are organic compounds required in microgram or milligram amounts. Since plants are the primary origin of nutrients for humans and animals, some micronutrients may be in low levels and deficiencies ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Food System
The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ..., food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, Food packaging, packaging, transporting, Agricultural marketing, marketing, consumption, Food distribution, distribution, and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps. Food systems fall within agri-food systems, which encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in foo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area.Sayre, April Pulley (1999), ''Africa'', Twenty-First Century Books. . With billion people as of , it accounts for about of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, behind Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, tribalism, colonialism, the Cold War, neocolonialism, lack of democracy, and corruption. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and the large and young population make Afr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area of , about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8.7% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. It is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity. The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural, linguistic, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pumpkins
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes used interchangeably with "squash" or "winter squash", and is commonly used for cultivars of ''Cucurbita argyrosperma'', ''Cucurbita ficifolia'', ''Cucurbita maxima'', ''Cucurbita moschata'', and ''Cucurbita pepo''. Native to North America (northeastern Mexico and the southern United States), ''C. pepo'' pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,000 to 5,500 BC. Today, pumpkins of varied species are widely grown for food, as well as for aesthetic and recreational purposes. The pumpkin's thick shell contains edible seeds and pulp. Pumpkin pie, for instance, is a traditional part of Thanksgiving meals in Canada and the United States, and pumpkins are frequently carved as jack-o'-lanterns for decoration a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cucumbers
Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.Cucumber " ''''. 2019. Considered an annual plant, there are three main varieties of cucumber—slicing, , and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cucurbitaceae
The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are: *''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds *''Lagenaria'' – calabash, and others that are inedible *''Citrullus'' – watermelon (''C. lanatus'', ''C. colocynthis'') and others *''Cucumis'' – cucumber (''C. sativus''), various melons and vines *''Momordica'' – bitter melon *''Luffa'' – the common name is also luffa, sometimes spelled loofah (when fully ripened, two species of this fibrous fruit are the source of the loofah scrubbing sponge) *''Cyclanthera'' – Caigua The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas, where those with edible fruits were among the earliest cultivated plants in both the Old and New Worlds. The family Cucurbitaceae ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food. The name ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeastern Iran and has long been used as a seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use. It was known to ancient Egyptians and has been used as both a food flavoring and a traditional medicine. China produces 76% of the world's supply of garlic. Etymology The word ''garlic'' derives from Old English, ''garlēac'', meaning ''gar'' (spear) and leek, as a 'spear-shaped leek'. Description ''Allium sativum'' is a perennial flowering plant growing from a bulb. It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to . The leaf blade is flat, linear, solid, and approximately wide, with an acute apex. The plant may produce pink to purple flowers from July to September in the Nort ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shallot
The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with ''Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the difference was too small to justify a separate species. As part of the onion genus ''Allium'', its close relatives include garlic, scallions, leeks, chives, and the Chinese onion. Names The name "shallot" comes from Ashkelon, an ancient Canaanite city, where Classical-era Greeks believed shallots originated. The term ''shallot'' is usually applied to the French red shallot (''Allium cepa'' var. ''aggregatum'', or the ''A. cepa'' Aggregatum Group). It is also used for the Persian shallot or ''musir'' (''A. stipitatum'') from the Zagros Mountains in Iran and Iraq, and the French gray shallot ('' Allium oschaninii'') which is also known as ''griselle'' or "true shallot"; it grows wild from Central to Southwest Asia. The name ''shallo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified as a separate species until 2010. Its close relatives include garlic, scallion, leek, and chive. This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion (''Allium fistulosum''), the tree onion (''A.'' × ''proliferum''), and the Canada onion (''Allium canadense''). The name ''wild onion'' is applied to a number of ''Allium'' species, but ''A. cepa'' is exclusively known from cultivation. Its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, but is usually treated as an annual and harvested in its f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alliums
''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 43 and the type species for the genus is ''Allium sativum'' which means "cultivated garlic".''Allium'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see ''External links'' below). Carl Linnaeus first described the genus ''Allium'' in 1753. Some sources refer to Greek ἀλέω (aleo, to avoid) by reason of the smell of garlic. Various ''Allium'' have been cultivated from the earliest times, and about a dozen species are economically important as crops, or garden vegetables, and an increasing number of species are important as ornamental plants. The decision to include a species in the genus ''Allium'' is taxonomically difficult, and species ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |