Developing food security

Hence the existence of the Agriculture Ministry’s Seed Unit on Lumbar Lane, off the Macqueripe Road in Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas.

The Seed Unit is a year-round source from which local farmers can purchase pure varieties of popular vegetables as well seeds of crops that are more commonly grown here than elsewhere.

The ministry’s Deputy Director of Agricultural Services, Allan Balfour, told Business Day that apart from “producing seeds locally so that Trinidad and Tobago (TT) could reduce our dependency on imported seeds, there was particular emphasis on developing a gene bank and developing a stock of seeds from ‘local’ crops.” Balfour explained that while “most seeds/plants may have come on ships (during Colonial days), we do have plants that are more local or more endemic to our area. For example, saime and lauki, which probably came across from India but in terms of what we term exotic crops, they are now commonly-grown vegetables in TT.” While the Seed Unit is not well known outside of the farming community, its client list also includes what Balfour dubbed “home/backyard gardeners.” “Anyone can purchase seeds from us. We have two types of packages - 100 gram and 50-gram packages of seeds (such as) corn, bodi, pigeon peas and sorrel. The larger bag is typically purchased by farmers while home/ backyard gardeners tend to buy the smaller bag. Similarly, we have 25-gram and 10-gram bags of seeds for smaller vegetable seeds, such as hot pepper and baingan. Prices are very aff ordable and have remained unchanged for the last five to ten years. These prices are heavily subsidised by the Ministry of Agriculture.” Established in 1971 in collaboration with Germany, the Chaguaramas Agricultural Development Project (CADP), as it was known then, occupied 200 hectares (ha) of land on what was then a fairly untouched stretch of Tucker Valley. The site was chosen because there was little to no risk of cross-pollination - no other crops were being grown within five kilometres of CADP.

As stated on the Agricultural Services Division of the ministry’s website (www.agriculture.gov.tt ), “The main programme at CADP concentrated on commercial production of true seed, particularly of vegetables, bodi, hot pepper, sorrel, pumpkin, pigeon pea, ochro, melongene and corn. CADP has the responsibility of catering to an ever increasing demand for these seeds from the farming public. This facility reduces the nation’s dependency on imported seed.” The CADP was relocated in June 2009 to the ministry’s El Carmen Field Station in Centeno, “by Cabinet Minute No. 467 of March 6, 2008”, to accommodate the establishment of Government’s commercial farm in Tucker Valley, popularly known as the Mega Farm.

“Following the closure of the Mega Farm in 2011, permission was granted for the re-establishment of field operations for seed production on approximately 40.5 ha of land at Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas,” the ministry stated. At some point, the CADP was renamed the Seed Unit but its functions remain the same, namely, production of high quality seed material - corn, pigeon pea, bodi, sorrel, pumpkin, ochro, melongene, hot pepper; production of root crop planting material - cassava, yam, sweet potato; production of banana planting material - plantain, soucrier, silk; preservation of key vegetable seeds under cold storage; and conservation of root crop germplasm.

Approval for the move back to Tucker Valley was granted in December 2014, with actual production being relocated from January 2015.

The Seed Unit now occupies half of the land on which it once stood back in 1971. The other half, located directly opposite the unit’s entrance on Macqueripe Road, is now occupied by UPick TT Farm (UPick).

While 100 ha is significantly more land on which to farm than the 40.5 ha available at Centeno, the Seed Unit faces new challenges - a limited supply of irrigation and potential crosspollination from crops being grown at UPick and other farms located closer to Macqueripe Bay.

Balfour recalled that “under the previous arrangement, we had permission to use one of the WASA (Water and Sewerage Authority) wells that exist on the station. We used to pay for an untreated, metered supply of water from one of those wells.

That arrangement no longer exists, so we’ve been producing crops under serious limitations in the dry season...

Eventually, we have to build a well of our own but we don’t have the funds for that right now; a new well would probably cost close to TT $1 million.” Questioned about the decision to move back to Tucker Valley when there are now farms within the cross pollination zone, Balfour said the unit “had no choice but to move back because this is the most ideal location for us.” He added that as Deputy Director, he believes “there needs to be collaboration between us, UPick and any other farms within a five kilometre radius, to work out planting schedules.

This would significantly reduce the risk of cross-pollination and maintain the pure varieties that we have at the Seed Unit.” While there has been friendly, informal, communication between staff at the Seed Unit and UPick, Balfour said “the plan is to formally approach all farms in the area about this issue” by early September.

Production may have moved back to Chaguaramas but much of the unit’s administrative offices and storage facilities are still in Centeno.

“So we have a what we call a redevelopment project; where we are equipping the cold storage unit in Chaguaramas with proper equipment, because right now all the seeds are being stored in an administrative office, re-building of stores, renovating of stores, furnishing the administrative office. Along with that goes all the other supporting or cosmetic things, such as signs,” Balfour said.

On August 6, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat visited the Seed Unit to get a first-hand look at the work being done to produce what the ministry described as “high quality, high yielding, pest and disease resistant seeds in sufficient quantity” for local agricultural production.

Addressing the media that day, Rambharat said the unit “is a very vital part of agriculture in TT. Our farmers use imported seed and planting material but there are some farmers who want some of the more traditional varieties...Because of resistance to pest and diseases, the yield; and around the Corpus Christi planting season, there is a high demand for seeds and planting material.” He acknowledged that “there is still some more work to be done for upgrading the infrastructure and making the place more secure and access to water.” Commenting on the relevance of the Seed Unit, Rambharat said “if we produce the seeds, the farmers will plant, then the consumers can show a greater interest...People are willing and interested in buying local.” “This is one of the priority areas for Government funding that we have identified; with an allocation this fiscal year of TT $1.3 million towards getting it going, and I can see that we will allocate some more for next year, particularly for equipment,” Rambharat stated.