SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY, 2018 – UWI TODAY
7
AGRICULTURE – UWI-TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUND
Go tell it on the Mountain
Breakout year for research
B Y J O E L H E N R Y
In January 2018,
the Government of Barbados launched a national
food planting programme. At its launch, Chief Agriculture Officer,
Lennox Chandler, said Barbadians needed “to be in control of what
they eat, in terms of how it is grown, what it is used to produce
and they should be able to feed themselves from within the four
corners of the island in case some catastrophe occurs….”
His statements could be a manifesto for the entire region.
There is a growing consensus on the need for a new
Caribbean agriculture. The region needs an agriculture sector
that can address its massive food import bills (estimated at over
$4 billion in Trinidad and Tobago in 2014 alone). It needs to
revitalise agriculture-driven economies and increase diversity in
others. It needs greater resiliency in the face of disasters such as
the devastating hurricanes of 2017. It needs to compete and win.
Mindful of this, researchers at UWI St. Augustine’s Faculty
of Food and Agriculture (FFA) have dedicated their efforts to
finding solutions for a Caribbean renaissance in agriculture. Their
work is pregnant with potential: microorganism-based pest and
disease controls, using earthworms in the development of organic
fertilisers, systems for supporting farmers after natural disasters,
and much more.
Researchers from the FFA are currently working on most of
the most pressing issues affecting food, farming and the business
of agriculture.
“We are the premier agricultural research organisation in the
region,” says Dr. Wayne Ganpat, Dean of the FFA. “The faculty
does a lot of work.”
In 2018, Dr. Ganpat and the FFA’s focus will also include
greater outreach:
“We have a lot to contribute to solving the food security issues
in the region. I want people to know they can come to us. On the
other hand we have to go out there and make a more coordinated
effort to find the research needs. At present we discern them. We
look at government policies throughout the region and we try to
understand them and respond. But we can do better.”
Appointed Dean in August 2016, Dr. Ganpat is well-suited
to the task of bringing the Faculty’s research out of the laboratory
and into the farming fields and policy offices. Both his academic
and professional careers are based in agricultural extension, the
transfer of research through education and outreach to farming
communities. He is essentially a Dean and communications expert
rolled into one.
“We have a great deal of research but not enough outreach,”
he says. “Outreach is a major need. We have close to half a million
farmers throughout the region. Then think about all the people
who depend on farming for their livelihood. It could be a couple
million. Who is going to get this research out to them?”
In November 2017, the FFA held a Research Day on the St.
Augustine Campus to highlight the work of the Faculty. They also
published the “Faculty of Food and Agriculture Research Digest,”
which includes abstracts and summaries of 100 projects being
undertaken by staff and students. FFA research also forms part
of the techAGRI Expo. First held in March 2017, this three-day
event highlights the innovation and entrepreneurship potential
of the sector.
“TechAGRI will happen again this year on an even bigger
scale,” Dr. Ganpat promises.
He sees a major part of the FFA’s role as advocacy for
agriculture, which has been stigmatized as hard, low-tech labour.
Through research, not only can new labour and cost-saving
technologies and processes be implemented, a new type of food
production professional can develop.
“Farmers in the region can produce very well. What we need
is to get agriculture to the next stage; to add value,” he says. “We
need to market our industry properly. We need to make new
products from our produce. That’s what our students should be
focusing on. Our students should be getting involved in the stages
beyond production.”
And beyond outreach and public awareness, Dr. Ganpat
recognises the need to get the FFA’s research into the hands of the
decision-makers:
“We have to start producing policy briefs. We must get our
work into the hands of the ministers of agriculture and permanent
secretaries in readable form. That’s the next step. We can take
published research and make it presentable to the policymakers.”
He adds: “I liken it to when you see vendors selling those
bottles of huge grain nuts on the highway. You buy it and when
you go home and shake it nothing comes out. We have all this
research and not enough of it is getting past that bottleneck. We
have to explode the bottleneck.”
Research toWatch
UWI is brimming with research
that can
bring new and much needed innovation to
the agriculture sector. Most of it comes from
the FFA but outstanding work is also being
done in other faculties such as Science and
Technology and Engineering. Some of the most
potentially impactful work is funded through
the
UWI-Trinidad and Tobago Research and
Development Impact Fund (RDI)
, although
there aremany amazing projects that use different
funding mechanisms.
Organic answers to healthy crops
Howdowe produce robust, bountiful and disease-
free crops without the use of pesticides?This is the
question that informs thework of theAgriculturally
Important Microorganisms (AIMs) project. AIMs
has done incredible work in developing bio-
fertilisers and pest and disease controllers. Look
for major announcements on the team’s results
this year and the development of commercial
opportunities for their use.
Worm fertilizer
“Vermicomposting” is the term for using worm
manure, amongothermaterials, to create powerful
fertilisers in organic farming. An FFA team is
working to assess the suitability of Trinidad
earthworms for vermicomposting and their
findings show that local species are actually better
for local soil. This is a promising breakthrough for
the development of local organic farming.
Bringing citrus back
Once upon a time Trinidad was a major producer
of citrus fruits. The UWI intends to make that time
come again. The FFA has established an eight-
acre citrus orchard at the South Campus, using
advanced design, technology and processes. The
goal is to revive this once great industry andmake
a dent in the over $50 million import market for
frozen citrus concentrate.
Apps for agriculture
AGRINETT is an award-winning research project
that consists of a full suite of smartphone
applications for farmers and other players in the
agriculture sector. RDI-funded, the project was
developed by the Department of Computing and
InformationTechnology in collaborationwith the
FFA. Not only has AGRINETT developed powerful
technology tools for the sector, the team is actively
in the field introducing the apps and training
communities in their use.
FFA research is part of the techAGRI Expo, which ran for three days in 2017, to show off innovation and the entrepreneurship potential of the
sector. It will be bigger this year.
Dr. Wayne
Ganpat: FFA
plans to host a
symposium in
April on Food
and Nutrition
Security.
