ECHO is a non-profit organization whose vision is "to bring glory to God and
a blessing to mankind by using science and technology to help the poor."
Our goal is to provide easy access to ECHO documents and other information
for those who are working in agricultural development. If you have a specific
technical question related to your work in agriculture and appropriate
technology, we have staff members who will try to find an answer for you. Send
your request to
. Be as specific as you can and explain the
setting in which you need this information.
This web portal contains a wealth of information on
small farm tropical agriculture. Follow the links on the left to find ideas for
growing food under difficult conditions, to learn about underutilized plants and
find out how you can order free trial packets of seed to evaluate these plants
in the communities where you work.
Microfinance and Microenterprise Development courses are available for those ministering to the poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Economic Development Ministry courses are designed for those ministering to the poor in the U.S. or Canada.
More information about the courses along with dates and
prices is available online at http://chalmers.org/courses/announcements/june_2009.php. Note that group discounts are available as well as an
indigenous discount for those from outside the U.S. Please feel free to
share this information with your ministry team and also with those in
your broader ministry network who could benefit from this training.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 June 2009 )
Monday, 27 April 2009
Two Research Centers Combine Expertise in Vegetable Research
Abstracted from an ICRISAT press release, 2009.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT) and the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) are strengthening research collaboration
to diversify the food basket for the farmers from the developing countries of
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT, headquartered
in India, specializes in dryland cereals and legumes; the World Vegetable
Center, located in Taiwan, specializes in vegetables.
The goal of the collaboration is that farmers will
be able to choose more crops to grow during different seasons to reduce the
risk impact and increase the productivity of their land. A project already
underway is to improve the heat and drought tolerance in tropical tomato. They plan to develop crops with disease
resistance and evaluate options for integrated pest management (IPM).
A new project in Africa aims to alleviate
constraints to the availability of quality seeds of vegetable crop species
through a combination of breeding research and advocacy using ICRISAT's expertise
in developing seed systems in Africa. A
project in Sudan is underway to develop vegetable varieties that will fit into
the cropping schemes of the Sudano-Sahelian zone. Okra (ladies finger) was chosen as the
best-bet species, and subsequent work resulted in the assembly of 145
accessions, and development of improved varieties.
