News Archive

New team member at ICUC
The ICUC team has been strengthened with the arrival of Mr Sivanthe Samarasinghe on 23 November. During the next six months, Sivanthe will follow up on the successful work of Ismael Barry and develop further small-scale underutilised fruit producer and collector cooperatives in Sri Lanka.

ICUC welcomes new intern
On 1 November, we welcomed Ms Ivory Sun, from China, on a six-month internship with ICUC. During this period, Ivory will establish contacts with Chinese and China-based international organisation and develop a funding proposal for collaborative research activities on underutilised crops in China.

Regoverning Markets (www.regoverningmarkets.org) opened a call for proposals. They are looking for empirical case studies on innovative practices in connecting smallholder farmers with dynamic agro-food markets.

We have increased the number of our readers considerably over the past weeks. Thus it is a good time to invite you to provide your opinion about ICUC News

We are happy to announce the publication of the Strategic Framework for Underutilized Plant Species Research and Development with special reference to Asia and the Pacific, and to Sub-Saharan Africa.

ICUC presents its position and policies regarding the use of biotechnology methods in its first Position Paper.

Mr John Palmer, one of the ICUC Scientific Advisory Board members, visited Sri Lanka 1-3 October. We took the opportunity to travel to Galle where we met one of our project partners, the Savordaya Economic Enterprise Development Services (SEEDS) and saw the food processing training resource centre they established with part support of ICUC earlier this year.

During the month of August 2006 we welcomed our 10,000th visitor to the ICUC website since it's launch in December 2005. Thank you to everyone who has visited the site and to the many repeat visitors for their interest in ICUC and its activities!

The 27th International Horticultural Congress, the four-yearly gathering of members of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), will take place 13 to 19 August in Seoul, South Korea.

ICUC's e-library is now providing links to the main on-line journal services from where thousands of journals can be accessed. Many of these are free for institutions in developing countries upon registration. Go to ICUC's e-library to find out more.

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This conceptual framework is intended to provide a basis for an empirical assessment of marketing solutions for underutilized plant species among the rural poor in developing economies.

Mr. Dhammika Perera, the owner of Tharindu fruit products at Kandy obtained the certification of Sri Lanka Standards (SLS) for ‘Ready to Serve’ fruit drinks of Tharindu brand.

ICUC is pleased to announce the arrival of new and interesting publications. The new arrivals are monographs on Mangosteen, Monkey Orange, Ndjanssang and Zapote (Spanish) as well as extension manuals on Monkey Orange, Ndjanssang, Safou (French) and Zapote (Spanish). For copies of these new arrivals or other ICUC publications, please complete the Publications Order Form (Doc.438kB) and email it to ICUC.

IICUC has launched a new information sharing service. ICUC-News is an electronic discussion forum run through "google groups".

ICUC's Scientific Advisory Board, comprising of Professor George Rothschild, Dr. Narayan G. Hegde, Hon. Professor Ruth Onaing'o, Mr. John Palmer and Professor Frank Rijsberman, met for the first time on 23 May 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr Boris Hillmann joined ICUC on 16 May 2006 for a period of five months with a stipend from the German Government.
Mr Ismael Barry joined on 18 May 2006 for a period of six months. Ismael has an MSc in Agricultural Economics from Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
Please join us in welcoming Boris and Ismael to ICUC and Sri Lanka!

ICUC together with GFU and co-hosts World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) is organising an expert consultation on underutilised plant species in Africa.

The second International Symposium for Natural Preservatives will be held on June 7th-8th at the Marriott Amsterdam Hotel, Amsterdam, Holland.

On March 23 the Global Horticultural Initiative was launched during a conference in Montpellier, France. The Initiative
had been initiated and guided bu the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC) with support of the Centre de Cooperation
International en Recherche Agronmique pour le Development (CIRAD) and the International Society for Horticultural
Sciences (ISHS).

ICUC is pleased to announce the arrival of Mr Robert Kunz, who holds a stipend from the German government. Robert is studying towards a Bachelor degree in Horticulture Management at the University for Applied Sciences Wiesbaden in Germany.