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Call for Abstracts - Deadline extended to 30 August 2017
Dear Colleagues, We have had an excellent response to our call for abstracts and due to this high interest we have decided to extend the deadline for any late submissions to 30th of August 2017. Oral and poster abstracts are invited on the listed topics and sub-themes.
INTRODUCTION
Producers, marketers, processors, and consumers have identified various problems that militate against the cultivation and utilization of indigenous vegetables in Africa. These include lack of planting materials, lack of production package information, lack of government support, the psyche of consumers that discourage promotion of indigenous species, lack of awareness of the food value of the species, difficult production techniques e.g. staking, etc., and high degree of perishability amongst others. It is known that the agrarian/rural communities that constitute about 65% of most African countries rely on these valuable vegetables for daily supplies of nutrients, vitamins and even protein. Thus, sustained production and utilization of these indigenous vegetables (IVs) will be a solution to the persistent problems of food and nutritional security in Africa. It is therefore timely to organize a forum to discuss issues that are related to the production and utilization of the indigenous vegetables of Africa from the perspectives of science, technology, finance and policy. Therefore, one of the goals of this conference is to bring together the stakeholders in the indigenous vegetables value chain. The conference will focus on development of improved agronomic methods, improved value addition, post-harvest and processing technologies, financing and the development of new market outlets which will contribute to the economic well-being of the rural women and generally enhance the average family income and provide a bulwark against food and nutritional insecurity.
Objectives of the Conference
The main objective of the conference is to bring together a global community of stakeholders (the academia, NGO, donor agencies, and industry) working on issues related to African indigenous vegetable to drive the process of promoting entrepreneurial development in the vegetable sector. The conference will bring together the body of knowledge on African vegetables for collation and archiving. The aim of the 2017 Afri-Veg Conference is to further our understanding of the challenges faced by the various stakeholders in the vegetable value chain and to recommend best practices that will enable us to overcome these challenges. The conference will encourage collaboration and exchange of knowledge and experience among participants. The ultimate goal is to encourage women's participation in vegetable value chain, which will have an impact on economic development, and allow greater diversity in household sustenance dynamics.
Theme: African Vegetables: From Plot to Plate
SUB THEMES
- Agronomy: soil management, pest and diseases management, water management, pathology, breeding and crop improvement, seed production, cropping systems, conservation and diversity
- Food science and value addition: post-harvest handling, processing, preservation, packaging, food and nutrition, nutraceuticals
- Food security and policy
- Economics & marketing: agribusiness, impact assessment
- Social and culture: gender issues, youth issues, communication and extension
- Communication, dissemination and scaling up approaches, innovation platform
- Technology and innovation in vegetable value chain
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Expect multidisciplinary sessions during 2017 Afri-Veg Forum bringing together the world's most renowned experts to address the latest innovation, advances, technology, issues and challenges in vegetable value chain. The program will include:
- Keynote speakers and expert panelists from the academia, NGO, donor agencies, and industry
- Plenary sessions on: Agronomy; Food science and Value addition; Economics & Marketing; Communications; Social and cultural issues; Food security and Policy issues; Dissemination and scaling up approaches; Technology and Innovation in vegetable value chain, etc.
- Peer reviewed published and archived conference proceedings
- Full paper presentations and poster sessions on current topics affecting African vegetables: from the farm to the plate
- Discussion sessions for different stakeholders in the value chain
- Workshop on outcomes of post-harvest handling of indigenous vegetables
- National workgroup meetings.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES
- Submission of abstracts Aug 30, 2017
- Notification of acceptance: Oct 30, 2017
- Registration deadline: Nov 15, 2017
Event date: 20-22 November 2017
Location: Sun Beach Hotel, Fidjrossè Calvaire, Cotonou, Benin Republic
Email us: Afriveg2017@gmail.com
Early bird registration fee: $200
ABSTRACT TEMPLATE
Title The abstract title should be short and concise. Capitalize each word except prepositions, articles and species name in the title) Author (List the names of all authors with surname followed by first name and middle name as initials (if applicable).Arabic numerals should be added in parentheses after each authors name to denote the author's organization. Insert an asterisk sign as a superscript with the corresponding author.) Affiliation, Address, City, State (For each separate organization the numeral should appear after the address in parentheses) Background State the nature of the problem or opportunity to be addressed. Summarize the current situation and state your hypothesis. Materials and Methods Summarize the experimental design and methodology used in the study. Results Provide a concise summary of the findings. Conclusion Explain the significance of your findings and future implications of the results. Keywords Enter up to three keywords in lowercase *Corresponding email: (The e-mail address of the corresponding author should be given) (Note: abstract length should not exceed 400 words)
Please, specify which sub-theme and form of presentation [oral or poster] preferred, final decision will be based on relevance of the article)