The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) has come under severe criticism for not fulfilling its mandate, especially as far as it relates to the improvement of the performance of the agricultural sector of the Caribbean Community.
Most of that criticism has come from President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is the Caricom Head with lead responsibility for agriculture, and the general feeling is that most of the criticism is not unwarranted.
In recent years the Trinidad-based organisation has been restructured and given a new focus with an emphasis that sees its regional offices paying close attention to the problems which plague the countries in which they are located.
Examples of such focus and the positive results being obtained are the work that was done in Barbados and Grenada in the sugar and nutmeg industries respectively.
The Institute is also leading the way in biometric research in the region - it began using biometric methods since 1975 - and its biometrics department has helped ensure the quality and relevance of the experiments and surveys carried out over the years. In addition, the Institute has provided biometric services to its stakeholders and collaborators throughout the Caribbean, including ministries of Agriculture, national research institutes, educational institutes and commodity organisations.
Biological Control Programme
CARDI's work in Barbados which involved the institution of a biological control programme, has assisted the island's sugar industry in saving some EC$3 million as a result of increased production and quality.
Prior to the implementation of the programme CARDI says that the industry was adversely affected by the infestation of the Moth Borer, Diatraea saccharalis. This major pest of sugarcane in Barbados causes sugarcane plants to lose cane quality, reduces the amount of juice that can be extracted from the sugar cane and affects the purity of the juice.
The challenge that CARDI faced was to identify solutions to protect as well as preserve the advancement of the industry towards sustainability. It did so by successfully mitigating the infestation of the pests through biological control.
Because of environmental concerns the Moth Borer's control by pesticide was not a feasible method in Barbados and as a consequence biological control was considered to be the best and safest control strategy for this pest. It should also be pointed out that many years ago, Diatraea saccharalis infestation in Barbados was very high with as much as 15.5% of the joints infested in the sugar cane plants.
Dr Litta Pulraj, Plant Pathologist based in the agency's country office in Barbados, led the Institute's research team which received valuable input from Ian Gibbs, formerly of CARDI who is now employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Barbados.
To control the problem CARDI reared a parasite, Cotesia Flavipes in its laboratory. This parasite destroys the Moth Borer, but otherwise has no function and therefore is environmentally sound. After rearing, the parasite was released at strategic points throughout the island. The efficiency of the programme was measured by an annual joint infestation survey where samples of uncut cane were taken in the field, and examined for moth borer damage.
Since 1999 infestation levels have been below 5% for all the major varieties cultivated in all parts of the island. Because 5% is regarded as the economic threshold level, above which there is a significant economic loss, the biological control programme has been successful. This success was realised by CARDI through close collaboration and co-operation with all stakeholders in the industry including the farmers, the Agronomy Research & Variety Testing Unit (ARVTU) and the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC).
In Grenada the Institute faced the challenge of identifying the organism which causes the Nutmeg Root Rot disease. This disease challenged the economic survival of the industry, which is a significant contributor to the island's economy.
Last year, Grenada earned EC$39 million from nutmeg export and the country is the third largest producer of nutmeg after Indonesia and Malaysia.
The disease also known as "nutmeg wilt" has impacted negatively on the industry resulting in an estimated annual loss of EC$2-3 million dollars.
"Nutmeg wilt" was reported as early as 1941 and surveys over the years have shown that the disease was widespread. Nation-wide surveys conducted in the '90s showed that the disease was present on 28% of farms surveyed.
It is within this context that in 2002 CARDI conducted a survey of the diseased areas which indicated that approximately 56% of the tree population examined was infected.
Faced with the increasing threat of the disease CARDI's research team in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Grenada, developed and implemented project activities through the European Union's Cariforum Agribusiness Research and Training Fund (CARTF) and Grenada Cooperative Nutmeg Association (GCNA) to identify the fungus/pests as well as to develop initial control strategies.
The research team identified the organism as the fungal pathogen which infects and kills the fine feeder roots of the nutmeg tree, which in turn prevents the absorption of water and nutrients by the plant. It infects the feeder roots and causes leaf wilting, defoliation, reduction in fruit production and finally the death of the tree. Since it is the roots that are primarily affected the disease has been renamed "nutmeg root rot." The Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International (CABI) Bio-science confirmed the fungus from the nutmeg roots as Pythium spp.
To this end an initial control strategy has been implemented and is currently being assessed. Early observations have been positive.
However, given the agronomy of the nutmeg plant, the current project life did not allow for the further development of appropriate management strategies. To address this challenge two critical activities have to be implemented.
Firstly, there must be an extensive investigation into the spread of the pathogen in the soils of Grenada, and secondly, there is need to better understand the host-pathogen interaction.
The execution of these activities will facilitate the development of appropriate management strategies for the root rot disease.
These strategies, CARDI says, when adopted by nutmeg producers, will adequately reduce the effect of the disease and its effect on the industry. It is also conducting workshops to equip farmers and stakeholders with modern training and techniques to control and eradicate the disease.
Biometrics
In the area of biometrics, the Institute held a workshop in St Lucia earlier this month and is scheduled to hold another in September in St Kitts and Nevis.
At the workshop in St Lucia, the Institute's biometrician Bruce Lauckner conducted the workshop for 15 researchers from the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The Institute said that the training will enable the St Lucian scientists to be better able to ensure that their research investigations really answer the questions which they were intended to answer.
For example, if a new crop variety is under test, can the researchers ensure that their results are not biased by weather conditions, environmental details such as soil type or previous land use, or even by human errors during the testing process? When data is collected, how can researchers ensure that the statistics are really helpful and not just 'damned lies'?
The answers to all these questions are determined with the knowledge of biometrics, which is a branch of mathematics or, more specifically statistics, which deals with applications to biology. Biometrics has helped researchers in agriculture and medicine for a century.