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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 5 MAY 2019
OUR STUDENTS
Little Abary is the epitome of a small,
rural farming
village. Forty three miles out from Georgetown, its near
to the popular river, bridge and creek trail that share its
name.
The Guyana Chronicle
calls it an “enchantingly quaint
and impressive village”. The villagers, the
Chronicle
says,
depend almost entirely on their rice farming and vegetable
cultivation for existence”.
There is one member of the community of Little Abary
that chose a different path:
“I come from a very poor family and my parents were
doing cash crop farming for their livelihood,” says Dr
Rajendra Persaud. “So I was a slow learner and very playful
as a kid - and not doing very well in school. They threatened
to takeme out of school andmakeme join themon the farm.
That was the turning point in my life. I got serious about
school and academics.”
Serious is an understatement. At only 38 years of age,
Persaud’s scholarly work in plant pathology (the scientific
study of plant diseases) has earned him coveted positions
in academia in the University of Guyana (UG), The UWI
St Augustine and other institutions. It has earned him
international recognition and key positions in state agencies
with jurisdiction over his country’s agricultural destiny. In
February of this year it even earned him the prestigious
“Golden Arrow of Achievement Award”, a national award
of Guyana.
Perhaps most importantly of all, Rajendra Persaud’s
commitment to academics has allowed him to positively
impact the lives of farmers like his parents, in agricultural
communities like Little Abary, all over Guyana. How did
he do it? Rice.
YIELDS UNDER THREAT
Their names are “blast” and “sheath blight” - together
they are the most devastating diseases affecting rice crops
worldwide. Blast, caused by a fungus called Magnaporthe
oryzae, is the most important rice affecting disease
worldwide because of its massive reach (85 countries) and
devastating effects. Sheath blight, caused by the Rhizoctonia
solani fungus, is almost as potent a threat. In countries such
as Japan and the US it has caused losses in crop yields as
high as 20 to 25 per cent.
“We have some very serious disease problems with
sheath blight and blast,” says Dr Duraisamy Saravanakumar,
Senior Lecturer in Plant Pathology at UWI St Augustine’s
Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA). “They cover all
stages of the plant, starting from the seedling to the harvest.
This means they can lead to severe yield loss.”
When Dr Sara (as he is commonly known) says “we”,
he is speaking about major rice producing countries. And
Guyana is very much a rice producing country. Rice is
one of the six major export commodities that comprise 60
per cent of GDP, and a major contributor to agriculture’s
more than 15 per cent of GDP. In the words of a United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) document on
the Guyana rice industry, “the industry has become one of
the economic cornerstones of this country”.
Thismeans threats like rice-affecting diseases can have a
major negative impact on the economy. As a young academic
from a rural background, Persaud found himself involved
in the field of plant pathology right out of secondary school,
becoming a trainee with the Guyana Rice Development
Board (GRDB). He’s been on that path ever since, acquiring
his diploma from the Guyana School of Agriculture, his
degree from UG, and his master’s from the Indira Gandhi
Agriculture University at Raipur, in India. Then came The
UWI.
SAVING THE
GRAIN
How Rajendra Persaud used plant science
to protect Guyana’s vital rice industry
B Y J O E L H E N R Y
