The Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations (FAO) not too long ago concluded a pivotal three-day plant breeding for warm pepper manufacturing below its Enhancing Phytosanitary, Meals Security and Market Entry Alternatives alongside the Sizzling Pepper Worth Chain Undertaking between October 30 – November 1,2024. This session marks a major improvement in Jamaica’s scorching pepper sector, supporting the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining’s initiative to ascertain a Nationwide Seed Certification System for warm pepper manufacturing.
Bringing collectively 35 individuals, the coaching targeted on skill-building and enhancing strategies for plant breeders from the Analysis and Growth Division (Bodles and Montpellier), personal seed producers, and farmers from key scorching pepper-growing parishes, together with St. Elizabeth, Clarendon, St. Catherine, St. Ann, and St. Mary. By way of this focused coaching, FAO goals to spice up the supply of high-quality, clear pepper seeds and planting supplies, addressing a vital want for enhanced productiveness and sustainability inside the Jamaican scorching pepper worth chain.
In his remarks on the opening ceremony held on October 28, Franklin Witter, Minister of State inside the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, highlighted the significance of efficient plant breeding methods: “By creating improved cultivars, we will obtain elevated crop yields, higher dietary high quality, and enhanced adaptability to environmental challenges.”
The opening occasion additionally featured a stakeholder assembly and panel dialogue that examined coverage frameworks and alternatives surrounding business seed manufacturing, Geographical Indicators, and neighborhood seed saving.
The coaching collection was led by the Caribbean Agricultural Analysis and Growth Institute (CARDI), whose consultants guided individuals in refining plant breeding finest practices. Supervisor of Science and Innovation at CARDI, Fayaz Shah, emphasised the significance of the coaching.
“We see this coaching as being very important in permitting progress and enlargement of the Jamaica pepper business. CARDI historically has been a serious provider of scorching pepper seeds and applied sciences all through the Caribbean, and we’re very grateful to FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture for reaching out to CARDI to share our experience.”
The coaching’s regional method included Professor Path Umaharan, Plant Breeder on the Cocoa Analysis Institute from Trinidad and Tobago, and Omaira Avila, Seed Technologist/Biotechnologist from CARDI Belize. The trainers supplied specialised insights into Caribbean types of scorching peppers and a spread of subjects together with gene pool range, seed coverage as nicely instruments and strategies experience in plant breeding and biotechnology.
Dionne Clarke Harris, CARDI’s Consultant in Jamaica, emphasised CARDI’s longstanding function in Jamaica’s scorching pepper business, notably in pest administration and promotion of the West Indies Purple pepper. “CARDI has been very instrumental within the promotion of the West Indies Purple which we noticed as the economic pepper to maintain the processing sector of the recent pepper business such that no matter manufacturing of scotch bonnet we received for the contemporary market, we might have sufficient Peppers on the market to fulfill in a sustainable and constant manner.”
Highlighting the coaching’s collaborative nature, Harris added, “This workshop and its aims to strengthen the breeding capability of the [Bodles] workforce was alternative to garner all of the experience and applied sciences that we all know are on the market and to judge the place we’re in Jamaica with respect to breeding.”
Alex Sybron, Appearing Senior Analysis Director of the Crop Analysis Unit at Bodles, famous the instant advantages of the coaching for his workforce. “From this coaching, we hope to strengthen and put ahead a extra structured breeding program. We additionally discovered some new strategies which we can be using, particularly for enchancment of the scotch bonnet pepper.” Sybron acknowledged the theoretical and sensible elements, notably benefiting workforce members new to plant breeding.
In a transfer to boost the effectivity and high quality of seed manufacturing, the FAO undertaking will present a gravity separator, seed extractor, and scorching water bathtub to switch the labor-intensive, handbook cleansing processes. This improve is predicted to enhance genetic purity and throughput, aligning Jamaica’s scorching pepper business with worldwide compliance requirements and benefiting stakeholders throughout the worth chain, together with seed producers, farmers, agro-processors, and exporters.
The Enhancing the Phytosanitary Meals Security and Market Entry Alternatives alongside the Sizzling Pepper Worth Chain” undertaking is funded by the Requirements and Commerce Growth Facility and applied by FAO in collaboration with the Bureau of Requirements, Jamaica, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.
