The All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable crops (AICRP-VC) was initiated under the aegis of ICAR in the year 1971 with its head quarter at IARI, New Delhi. Vegetables are essentially the good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. Due to its important role in balanced nutrition, the council upgraded its status to the level of Project Directorate in 1986 and it’s headquarter was shifted to Varanasi in the year 1992.Considering the excellent all round performance of Project Directorate, the council further raised its esteemed status of Indian Institute of Vegetable Research during April, 1999. From the February 2010 the AICRP (VC) has been endowed with the post of Project Coordinator to look after the progress made by the coordinated centres and monitor and solve their problems. It has multidisciplinary research programmes in all agro climatic zones with diverse responsibilities and also addresses the new emerging issues. The AICRP (VC) programmes are carried out at 36 regular & 22 voluntary centres.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PROJECT

The AICRP (VC) has made stride development and production of vegetables in a short span of time. In five decades, project has developed 591 varieties in 30 vegetables crops, which have been identified for cultivation in different climatic zones. Among these 349 are high yielding open pollinated, 183 are hybrids and 59 are resistant to diseases. Besides varietal improvement, 471 production, 225 Seed production, 56 Physiology &Biochemistry, 178 Disease and 154 Insect Pest Management technologies have been recommended for various agro climatic zones.