About

VIRTIGATION is a new Horizon 2020 project on a mission to protect tomatoes and cucurbits in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin from viral diseases. In collaboration with partners from key EU neighboring areas and trade partners across the globe – Morocco, Israel and India – VIRTIGATION will develop short-, medium- and long-term solutions to the emerging viral diseases caused by begomoviruses (whitefly-transmitted) and tobamoviruses (mechanically transmitted) on tomato and cucurbit crops. The VIRTIGATION project will further increase the know-how for better control and management of these viral diseases in the entire tomato and cucurbit value chain, thanks to its multi-actor approach anchored in co-creation and co-design. VIRTIGATION is running for 4 years (June 2021 – May 2025) and is coordinated by the Laboratory for Tropical Crop Improvement at the Department of Biosystems of KU Leuven (Belgium).