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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 11 AUGUST 2019
FOOD
Pesticides – the word conjures up notions
of contaminated
crops and at-risk consumers: but what about the farmers
themselves? What about those whose livelihood depends
on using these sometimes hazardous agents to keep their
produce free of disease? In the farming community here
and globally, pesticides have caused acute illnesses like
headaches and vomiting, and even chronic ailments that
hinder farmers’ health for long stretches.
For some time now researchers in UWI St Augustine’s
Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA) have not only been
developing a non-hazardous biological (as opposed to
chemical) agent to treat local farmers’ crops; they have
been actively in the field sharing the agent with farmers,
monitoring their results, and working closely with them to
improve their practices.
On July 24, 2019, this community of farmers and FFA
personnel met for a workshop at UWI’s Innovation Park in
Orange Grove. The workshop’s theme was “Alternatives to
Hazardous Pesticides in Vegetable Disease Management”.
The “alternative”, developed by FFA, is named Biophyt.
“Biophyt 1.0 is like Windows 98 computer software,
there will be different versions and iterations as time goes
by,” Dr Duraisamy Saravanakumar, Senior Lecturer (Plant
Pathology), told an audience of farmers, FFA staff and other
stakeholders.
Farmers like 30-year-old Romona Branche, who was
part of field testing done fromNovember 2018 to June 2019
to examine its efficacy in the control of Phytophthora rot
in hot peppers.
“The yield was really big, a hundred crocus bags per
picking. Almost like sweet pepper.”
She was happy that she had no major adjustments to
make like buying new equipment, as all of her old gear could
be used with the new treatment. Additionally, Romona
noted that fungicides and pesticides are costly and Biophyt
1.0 was less per bottle so overall the cost for her was much
lower.
Smiling, she said, “Even the stalks were healthier
and fatter. The plants were taller and had a lot of flowers.”
Romona speculated that the pesticide might even be safer
for the bees and increase pollination.
The control areas of hot pepper, where traditional
pesticide was used for comparison, yielded less produce.
On another farm, Azir Hosein, 35-years-old, was
engaged in field testing as well. His parents, Tasslina and
Sookraj Popalie, own approximately five acres in different
areas fromOrange Grove to Aranguez. They tested Biophyt
on tomatoes.
“It was great!” Azir stated. “The taste of the tomatoes
is very sweet. Our customers say they purchase from other
farmers but theirs is bland – our tomato is sweet.”
Tasslina joined in, saying “this crop was a bumper crop.
It lasted more than six months.” The duration of the trials
was three months. The bio-agent was tested on one acre of
tomatoes. The farming family reported a yield of 100 crates
in total over only two or three pickings. They admit that
the control group was just as good, but perhaps weather
was a factor.
Growing together
UWI researchers, farmers commune on new alternative
to hazardous pesticides, old agricultural wisdom
Dr Saravanakumar (white t-shirt) on a farm visit.
Hot peppers in
vibrant green grown
using Biophyt 1.0
