"New projects in Africa and Asia, with help from UC Davis students

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture has awarded 15 new Trellis Fund grants to organizations in Africa and Asia, matching these new projects to 16 graduate students who will provide agriculture expertise requested by the organizations—including 5 students from the University of California, Davis.

The Trellis Fund is a model started by the Horticulture Innovation Lab in 2011 as a way to connect organizations that are well-rooted in their local communities in developing countries with budding agricultural scientists. In addition to helping local farmers, the projects also build the institutional capacity of the organizations and expose graduate students to critical agricultural needs in transitional economies.

UC Davis students selected to support agriculture projects in Uganda, Ethiopia, Nepal

Five UC Davis graduate students were selected to participate in Trellis Fund projects in Uganda, Ethiopia and Nepal with the Horticulture Innovation Lab. The Trellis Fund program is also managed by UC Davis graduate students who work with the Horticulture Innovation Lab management team.

• Uganda: The Teso Women’s Development Enterprise, Ltd., will lead a Trellis Fund project focused on promoting value-addition activities for mangoes and oranges with small-scale fruit farmers. Claire Adkison, a UC Davis graduate student in Horticulture and Agronomy, will travel to Uganda to support this project’s trainings on fruit processing.
• Uganda: The Mwino Group will focus on enhancing shelf-life of fruits and vegetables for off-season supply, during their Trellis Fund project. Traveling to Uganda to support this project will be Annabelle Yu, a UC Davis graduate student pursuing a doctoral degree in Microbiology.
• Uganda: An organization called Uganda Rural Information and Communication Technology (URICT-Uganda) received a Trellis Fund grant to train farmers on pest and disease management for fruit crops. Karla Huerta, a graduate student studying Horticulture and Agronomy in the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology Department, will support the project and travel to Uganda to work with farmers.
• Ethiopia: An organization called Send a Cow Ethiopia will lead a project focused on nutritional benefits of eating sweet potato leaves with its Trellis Fund grant. Lauren Howe, a UC Davis student in International Agricultural Development who is also a graduate assistant for the Horticulture Innovation Lab, will travel to Ethiopia to support this project.
• Nepal: The Center for Agricultural Research and Development-Nepal (CARD-Nepal) has received a Trellis Fund grant for a project focused on training vegetable farmers in soil management practices. Stewart Wilson, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in Soils and Biogeochemistry at UC Davis, will travel to Nepal to work with farmers on soil health."

Read the full announcement at the UC Davis Horticulture Innovation Lab Blog.