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Have you ever wondered who writes encyclopaedias? It takes an enormous amount of knowledge and scholarship. Trinidad and Tobago is home to an author whose knowledge of mangoes—one of T&T’s favourite fruits—is so comprehensive that he has contributed to a massive, six-volume, 11-book encyclopaedia on the topic.
Evans Ramkhelawan—a local agronomist, tree crop consultant, weed scientist, and crop valuator—is the principal author of the chapter on mangoes in Trinidad and Tobago and the section on varieties of our mangoes in the World Mango Tree Encyclopedia published in 2016 by the Sultanate of Oman Royal Court Affairs (covered in the December 2025 issue of UWI TODAY).
While writing part of an encyclopaedia could be a peak accomplishment for most people, Ramkhelwan is also responsible for something else that is equally impressive. He is the person who introduced the red- fleshed dragon fruit, Selenicereus costaricensis, to Trinidad and Tobago.
This dragon fruit selection, also called pitaya roha, has a red outer skin when ripe with red to deep crimson flesh inside speckled with tiny, black edible seeds. The flesh has a sweet, mildly acidic flavour and juicy texture. When ripe, it can weigh around one third to one half of a kilogram.
It began with his visit to Malaysia in 2006 during his time as an agronomist at the Ministry of Agriculture, where he saw the exotic fruit being cultivated. On his return to Trinidad, he brought home plant cuttings. This was done, he emphasised, via the proper legal channels — having the correct import permit, and declaring the plant material to plant quarantine officials.
From there, the dragon fruit was propagated, and a small orchard was established at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Central Experiment Station. Today, the fruit is widely enjoyed and even cultivated commercially in agro-processing (see the story of Anderson Bissoon in the April 2021 issue of UWI TODAY https://sta.uwi.edu/ uwitoday/archive/april_2021/article6.asp).
For over 40 years, Ramkhelawan has worked to move the local agriculture industry forward. He was inspired by his dad, Rawle Ramkhelawan to become an agriculturist.
“I was raised in an agricultural community in the sugarcane belt of Williamsville,” he recalls.
“My father grew up in abject poverty at the Brothers Estate barracks. He never had the opportunity to have a secondary school education, but was self-taught and eventually became a teacher, a graduate from Naparima Training College, and the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry (ECIAF). He then became an Agricultural Extension Officer in County Victoria.”
His own story, however, began in an entirely different industry. At the age of 20, he was trained and later employed in the chemical manufacturing sector at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. It was this experience that made him realise that he wanted to do something different.
“I wanted to work with crops, not industrial plants,” he says.
He enrolled at The University of the West Indies in 1977 and pursued a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Agriculture. Wanting to build on his undergraduate education, in 1994, he completed a Master of Philosophy degree in Crop Science, also at The UWI St Augustine.
After graduating, he taught Agricultural Science at the secondary school level and then became an Agricultural Officer in the Agriculture Ministry’s Horticultural Division. Ramkhelawan served on all four plant propagation stations for ten years. He also returned to UWI, where he completed a Master of Philosophy degree in Crop Science in 1994.
As a man of agriculture and research, it is not surprising that some of his fondest memories from his time on campus involve the many green spaces, the beautiful trees, and the vast collections housed in the Alma Jordan Library. When the Mango Tree Encyclopedia was published, he returned to donate the work to the campus library.
His contribution to the institution’s academic collections does not end there. As a researcher at the Central Experiment Station in Centeno he authored several research papers published in the Faculty of Food and Agriculture’s Tropical Agriculture Journal.
He has also written a number of articles on a range of horticultural crops in other journals and fruit newsletters. He has written three books - Production Guide for Sapodilla, Soursop and Pineapple, Growers Guide for Coconuts, and Coconut Production Technology Manual.
Of all the research he conducted, his most memorable ones were his publication on the integrated management of birdvine (Passovia pedunculata) in Citrus trees and the sustainable production of pineapples in Tableland, South Trinidad. Pineapple lands were being degraded and later abandoned as a result of unsustainable practices there.
After retiring as a director from the Ministry of Agriculture in 2016, Mr Ramkhelawan served at the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) as the Agronomist and lead consultant for a regional project entitled “Coconut Industry Development in the Caribbean” He shared his experience and expertise in coconut production technology by providing workshops and field training in nine countries.
“Coconut is a very lucrative crop with many health benefits,” he says.
He believes that the coconut industry can be revived by the Ministry of Agriculture providing a dedicated team to manage the fatal Red Ring Disease epidemic which is widespread in Trinidad and Tobago.
“A programme should be developed to rapidly produce high-quality coconut plants in adequate quantities to replace the large acreages of senile, unproductive trees, and to expand acreage,” he explains. “Growers should be provided with the recommended agronomic practices for sustainable production. Training for safe bottling of Coconut water should also be provided.
Mr Ramkhelawan believes that there is still hope for agriculture to not just survive, but thrive. As a practicing registered farmer for four decades who has worked to improve crop production, he continues to advocate for the conservation of rare/exotic fruits.
“I am always on the lookout,” he says, “to identify superior planting materials for inclusion in germplasm collections for the benefit of farmers.”
Evans Ramkhelawan believes that true food security isn’t just about increasing the sheer volume of commodities. It should include food safety and systemic efficiency, utilising an integrated approach to ensure we are not just feeding the present, but actively safeguarding the future.
