–with US$810,000 investment

THE Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), through financial support from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), is implementing a three-year project to improve the production, processing and marketing of sweet potatoes in the region.
For this project, the CDB will provide US$600,000 and CARDI, US$210,000. The project will be implemented in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The results of the project will be shared across the region. Sweet potato is an important local food source for Caribbean people and a priority research commodity for CARDI. However, in spite of the agronomic and value chain improvements, the regional industry is still beset with challenges. Regional production is lagging behind when compared to other regions of the world. Additionally, CARDI noted that farmers and processors are not adequately equipped to meet the demands of the modern consumer and address product safety standards and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements for intra-regional trade. This situation prohibits them from accessing high-value food markets for fresh and processed products.

Using a market-led approach, a value chain analysis will be conducted to analyse the gaps and identify opportunities for market linkages and investments. A complementary research component will identify and make available climate resilient varieties for production and processing.
The aforementioned interventions, CARDI noted, will drive the development of a series of agriculture multimedia extension aids.
Targetting farmers and other stakeholders along the sweet potato value chain, these aids will demonstrate best practices in sweet potato cultivation, processing and value-added product development. The goal is to increase the production and consumption of sweet potato. According to Executive Director, Barton Clarke, the region’s dependence on imported food to meet daily subsistence is both worrying and unacceptable. The COVID-19 pandemic, he said, has also brought the region’s food insecurity into the spotlight.

“Projects like this are an opportunity for Caribbean countries to make significant strides towards increasing their production of traditional commodities, placing them on the path to achieving food and nutrition security.
“Our vision is to have a food secure region. We view this as a shared responsibility and CARDI remains committed to working with all stakeholders to improve the region’s self-sufficiency, whilst exploiting our full production potential in a sustainable manner,” Clarke said.
In Guyana, CARDI will be working in close collaboration with NAREI to implement this project.
Specific focus would be to undertake DNA analysis of local crops for classification into varieties, and train farmers, research and extension officers, along the value chain, on improved cultivation practices, identify drought-tolerant varieties, build capacity on this commodity and address challenges sweet potato farmers face. The overall objective is to position this industry to capitalise on the existing and emerging markets.