Chief Agricultural Officer, Lennox Chandler (right), as he addressed workshop participants at the start of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Training Workshop on Tomato Product Development. Accompanying him is Michael James, Senior Agricultural Officer with responsibilityfor plant protection.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management is currently working to develop industries around primary crops such as cassava, breadfruit, coconuts and tomatoes.
Chief Agricultural Officer, Lennox Chandler noted that the Ministry has already embarked on a number of initiatives, which will see a number of “value added products” being developed from these crops.
His comments came yesterday during a Training Workshop on Tomato Product Development, which was held by the Ministry of Agriculture at the Barbados Water Authority Headquarters in the Pine Commercial Estate, St. Michael.
“Industries must be developed around our primary products. We see what has been done with cassava and this effort must be replicated with sweet potato, and we will soon be collaborating with the FAO – the Food and Agriculture Organisation – to replicate the value chain initiative, effort and process which has been gone through with cassava,” Chandler remarked.
“There is also breadfruit. We will be collaborating with the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine and developing an industry around breadfruit and they are very excited about it. Other countries, Trinidad for one, I would say that they are way ahead of us as far as the usage of breadfruit is concerned, not just roasting breadfruit by the beach, but producing value added products from the breadfruits,” Chandler added.
The Chief Agricultural Officer also revealed that about two weeks ago, the Ministry held a big meeting to discuss the matter of developing a coconut industry for Barbados. Chandler pointed out that predictions are that there will be a shortage of coconuts, not only in Barbados, but globally, as the demand for coconuts and its by-products continue to increase. Chandler stressed that coconut oil is now seen as a “cure for all” product, whereas, in the past it did not hold the interest of many. There is also a demand now for dry coconuts, not only the fresh water from the coconuts, he said.
Another initiative the Ministry of Agriculture will be embarking on, is a project called PROPEL, which is being conducted with the aid of the World University Service of Canada, to grow white potatoes in Barbados. Chandler explained that the aim will be to identify those varieties that are best suited to the Barbadian environment.
“This is not the first time we would have grown white potatoes in Barbados. We have done it before with great success, but things have changed and new varieties have come on the market,” Chandler said of the initiative. (RSM)
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