- Grenada introduces new variety of dasheen crop to farmers
Grenada has introduced two new variety of dasheen plants that it says have proven to be able to withstand harsh climate conditions.
It said that the Somoa and IND512, upland dasheen varieties were purchased from St Vincent and the Grenadines where it has been in production following a pilot programme in 2022.
It was developed by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).
“Our first order for the variety that are already planted on pilot plots was funded by the National Insurance Scheme(NIS) through as a part of collaboration with The Climate Smart Agriculture and Rural Enterprise Programme,” said Kenley Edwards, the agriculture coordinator of the Climate Smart Agricultural and Rural Enterprise Programme (SAEP).
SAEP is a six year project, which began in 2018, and is funded by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Grenada government.
The programme focus on assisting beneficiaries improve their livelihoods through skills training, investments in agriculture, teaching climate smart practices and providing business skills training and technical services to rural enterprises here.
“The pilot shipment of this climate smart variety was planted on farms in the farming communities of Clozier, Belvidere and Morne Longue,” said Edwards, adding “these are high elevated belt area that have significant root crop production in Grenada and the research has shown that they have an excellent adaptability to varying climatic conditions, soil types and soil fertility status”.
Edwards in explaining the involvement of the NIS,said it partnered with SAEP as part of its wider approach to educating self employed people about the benefit of contributing to the NIS as a self-employed person. Most farmers are self employed,” he said.
The new varieties of dasheen, according to a survey conducted in St Vincent 2022, were also identified as being less susceptible to pests and diseases such as aphids, mealy bugs, moulds, leaf spots and phythopthora as well as other infestations that targets tubers.
“Based on the seize of the yield from the survey conducted, I think it will be very beneficial for our farmers, so moving forward we will be doing more training about these plants so that we have a good stock,” Edwards said.
“From farms in St Vincent it has been proven that these variety of dasheen have excellent adaptability to varying climatic conditions, soil types and soil fertility status and it also produce larger corm sizes.
“We see this plant as having the potential to contribute to our nutrition and food security because they are resilience to harsh climatic conditions that are link both directly and indirectly to climate change conditions,” Edwards added.
In February 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said Grenadian farmers were provided with an opportunity to export agricultural commodities to Trinidad and Tobago.
“This is being made possible through discussion and collaboration with Salisha’s Traders BV, an agricultural trading company in Trinidad and Tobago,” it said, adding that dasheen, sweet potatoes, mangoes, bananas, plantains and ginger, were the crops identified for export.
