From September 22 to 24, The UWI’s Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA) welcomed at least 3,000 visitors to its doorsteps for this year’s techAGRI Expo, an event that highlighted a number of emerging agrotechnologies and agri-entrepreneurs.
Themed "Empowering Youth Entrepreneurship through Agricultural Technology," this year's expo was a collaboration with the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service.
It was also the first to be held since 2019. TechAGRI was put on pause for three years (2020 to 2022) because of the pandemic.
Reflecting on the event, Professor Mark Wuddivira, Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, told UWI TODAY that the faculty and Youth Ministry wanted to send a “clear message” that young people are leading the transformation of food and agriculture for the future.
He explained, “From 2022 to September of this year, we trained 100 young people between the ages of 16 and 35 on shade house production and management. Some of the participants in the project managed a display of the technology at the expo.
“These climate smart technologies are important in circumventing some of these climate issues, and we are pleased to have young people being trained in this area.”
A shade house is a structure enclosed by nets to allow sunlight, moisture, and air to pass through the gaps. As the shade house programme’s first cohort wrapped up their studies in September, some were offered the opportunity to intern at farms across the country to apply their newfound skills.
In September, the faculty and Youth Ministry launched the programme’s second edition with another 100 participants. There is also an ongoing aquaculture project which has 100 participants.
Speaking on the expo in general, Dean Wuddivira said many displays focused on how precision agriculture has been incorporated into different aquaponics models to give them a greater degree of sustainability.
During UWI TODAY’s visit to the event on September 23, Fruitful Bough Group Ltd was one of the booths displaying its technologies which they offered to clients to help them achieve climate smart precision agriculture.
The company’s Director of Business Development and Technology, Josiah Noel, told UWI TODAY they offer technologies that provide “predictive, productive, and reactive analytics” to stakeholders across the agriculture value chain.
Noel said, “We offer technology to monitor the actual, real-time conditions of the soil when crops are growing – the climatic conditions and the water quality, for example.”
He continued, “we then bring all the data points together to do data analytics to suggest remedial actions that growers must take to improve their growing conditions.
“We also have post-harvest solutions that monitor the air quality where the goods are stored, so we can predict at what rate goods are spoiling.”
The company also offers automated irrigation systems, drones, and robots, which can be used to control weeds and even apply fertilisers.
This being the company’s first time participating in the expo, their mission was to increase visibility for their services and show the wider public that the country already has the advanced technologies needed to build climate resilience in agriculture.
Prof Wuddivira said the company’s services are a sign of the modernisation of the country’s agriculture sector at all levels.
With efforts geared towards increasing youth participation and promoting sustainable agriculture methods, the Dean of FFA said the faculty’s agenda continues to be supporting CARICOM in achieving their goal of reducing 25 percent of the region’s food imports by 2025.
He said, “The faculty has been really blessed with young, vibrant, and forward-thinking members. Because of this, we have been engaged in a number of projects that not only affect one country in the Caribbean, but a number of countries across the region.
FROM LEFT: Lecturer in Agri-Environmental Disaster Risk Resilience at UWI St Augustine Dr Ronald Roopnarine, Senator Avinash Singh (Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land, and Fisheries), FFA Dean Professor Mark Wuddivira, Youth Development and National Service Minister Mr Foster Cummings, Agricultural Development Bank Acting CEO Mrs Wendy Samsundar-Beharry (Platinum Sponsor of TechAGRI 2023), Mayor of Arima Mr Balliram Maharaj, and UWI St Augustine Deputy Principal Professor Indar Ramnarine. PHOTO: ANEEL KARIM
“Remember, the CARICOM Heads of Governments have their goals to reduce food imports and the faculty is focused on accelerating the achievement of this goal.”
Prof Wuddivira noted that when he visited all of the expo’s booths on September 24, there were many FFA graduates with either their own agribusinesses or leading roles in existing companies.
Founder of AgriNation Agricultural Consultancy, Hamza Ali, was one of those graduates.
In 2017, Ali graduated with a double major in Agricultural Technology, and Environmental and Natural Resource Management. He earned his masters’ degree in Tropical Animal Science and Production in 2019.
Ali’s business creates “digital knowledge products” to help broaden people's perspectives on agriculture, and provides services to home and commercial gardeners.
He told UWI TODAY, “The techAGRI Expo is a great venue for getting your name out there and marketing yourself as a competent entity within the agriculture sector. We’ve had great flow at the expo, and a lot of people who are interested in home gardening expressing their interest in using my services.”
Ali added that many visitors to his booth were interested in learning more about his new book titled, Gardening at Home Series for Tropical Growing – Volume One.
On September 24, he conducted a workshop on home gardening as part of a series of workshops on many different topics during the expo.
With techAGRI 2023 completed, Dean Wuddivira said planning has already started for the next one.
Outside of major events like the expo, he said the faculty continues to focus on the role it plays in shaping the future of food and agriculture in the region.
“The Ministry of Youth Development and National Service has indicated a number of other youth initiatives in which they will be engaging us,” he explained.
“We have also taken the lead in working with the Consortium of CARICOM Universities involved in Agricultural Education and Research (CUCAER), with universities around the region – like the University of Guyana, University of the Bahamas, University of Trinidad and Tobago, and Antom De Kom University of Suriname – to see how we can collaborate on meaningful initiatives to advance regional food security.”
Dean Wuddivira said, “The faculty is committed to doing things that are impactful and important to the general public.”
For Wuddivira, the FFA’s efforts to transform the region’s agri-food landscape is rooted in an understanding that environmental sustainability is closely linked with sustainable practices in farming and food production.
