{"id":215,"date":"2023-11-05T14:17:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T18:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sta.uwi.edu\/principal\/?p=215"},"modified":"2025-06-12T14:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T18:41:14","slug":"uwi-scientists-speak-november-05th-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sta.uwi.edu\/principal\/uwi-scientists-speak-november-05th-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Precision agriculture to battle climate change risks in cocoa by Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The past two years have been especially harsh for cocoa farmers due to adverse climate events affecting cocoa productivity. Estimates suggest that cocoa production in Trinidad and Tobago may have declined by more than 50% because of poor pod setting and increased losses due to pests and diseases. Better predictive technologies and adaptive interventions are required to prevent a repeat of such occurrences. Cocoa farms face numerous challenges, in addition to adverse effects of climate change, such as increased losses associated with diseases, parrot and rodent damage, poor soil fertility and soil contaminants, poor access roads, and labour availability. The use of traditional one-size-fit-all interventions have not, and will not, solve the multitude of localised challenges farmers\u2019 face in an environmentally diverse small island state such as Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n<p>Precision agriculture uses data from multiple sources to augment crop productivity and profitability of large farms through better spatial and temporal management of input use and risk mitigation measures. In a country with relatively small farms, where cocoa is grown in different terrains spread across the country, one needs to adapt this concept to make it applicable to local conditions. Advanced mapping systems are needed to capture, process, integrate and share geospatial data with farmers to support proactive decision-making that are relevant to their specific needs.<\/p>\n<p>The University of the West Indies\u2019 Cocoa Research Centre is building precision technology platforms to help cocoa farms improve productivity, efficiency and better manage local risks. Phase-1 of the project, which has been completed, is now capable of providing nuanced support to cocoa farms across the country. Under this phase, the country was divided into six agroecological zones using climate and soil variables. These zones were subdivided into 43 cocoa growing communities (CGCs). Each CGC was assessed for soil chemical and physical properties, cocoa flavour profiles, terrain, and risk propensities for diseases, pests, soil cadmium, flooding, fires, and constraints such as labour availability, access roads, and praedial larceny, through a representative survey of cocoa farms from within each community. Overlapping these variables geospatially using geographical information systems technology has enabled us to identify the strengths, risks, and constraints on a community-by-community basis. Matching these to good agricultural practices has allowed us to identify location specific constraints, risks and gaps. Leveraging this information, we have developed a nuanced approach to improving productivity and managing risks.<\/p>\n<p>This platform can better serve cocoa growing communities by providing answers to specific questions. For example, which varieties should be recommended for each CGC, should it be clones or grafts, what combination and amounts of fertilisers should be used, what level of shade and or companion crops are required, and which technologies could be used to manage the risk of cadmium, diseases, drought, flooding, or fires. Precision maps may also support Government to better tailor their services, including extension services and incentives, as well as the improve the process of prioritising access roads, irrigation needs flood control measures. This information can also assist financial institutions better align their loan packages. These interventions will help farmers improve input use efficiency, risk management, productivity, and profitability.<\/p>\n<p>In Phase-II, meteorological data, satellite LIDAR data and a citizen scientist application will be used to improve predictive modelling and response time to risk events. These will allow farmers to better prepare to meet challenges posed by the ENSO climate cycles and climate change. The development of such technologies requires a multidisciplinary approach. The University of the West Indies is building such teams to develop technologies to support agriculture. In addition, localised multistakeholder platforms involving the Government, private sector and the University are required to better implement, assess, modify and tailor to obtain impacts. In developmental language, this called a triple helix approach. The UWI is building such platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Such a nuanced, inclusive, and proactive approach with clearly defined goals is essential to achieve the desired developmental outcomes at a time when the world faces climate change challenges. Given the regional reach of The University of the West Indies, these technologies can be extended to the Caribbean in the regions\u2019 quest to become food secure.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_736\" style=\"width: 281px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-736\" class=\"wp-image-736 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sta.uwi.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/Professor-Path-Umaharan47082.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"271\" height=\"231\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-736\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The work is carried out as part of a PhD project of Mr. Marvin Lewis in collaboration with Dr Bheshem Ramlal and Dr Michael Sutherland, Department of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The past two years have been especially harsh for cocoa farmers due to adverse climate events affecting cocoa productivity. Estimates suggest that cocoa production in Trinidad and Tobago may have declined by more than 50% because of poor pod setting and increased losses due to pests and diseases. Better predictive technologies and adaptive interventions are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uwi-scientists-speaks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Precision agriculture to battle climate change risks in cocoa by Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan - Office of the Campus Principal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sta.uwi.edu\/principal\/uwi-scientists-speak-november-05th-2011\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Precision agriculture to battle climate change risks in cocoa by Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan - Office of the Campus Principal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The past two years have been especially harsh for cocoa farmers due to adverse climate events affecting cocoa productivity. 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