NEWS BRIEF: IICA, CARDI and the Ministry of Agriculture of Antigua and Barbuda using propagated tissue culture Antigua Black Pineapple plantlets a solution for the benefit of Pineapple Smallholders.
St. John’s, 14th October, 2024 (IICA), With support through its technical cooperation program, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in collaboration with the Caribbean Agriculture Research Development Institute (CARDI) and the Ministry of Agriculture Land Fisheries and the Blue Economy (MoALFBE) started the practical capacity building activities towards the revitalization of the Antigua Black Pineapple with the aid of Science, Technology and Innovation, in an effort to increase the effectiveness of the project to mitigate challenges and provide favourable opportunities for the Antigua Black Pineapple producers.
The project is designed to focus on improving the genetic resources of the Antigua Black Pineapple variety, through the use of tissue culture propagation for in situ conservation in Antigua and Barbuda. Five Thousand (5000) tissue culture pineapple plantlets have arrived in Antigua on the 12th October by virtue of the Orange Hill Biotechnology Agriculture Centre in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to initiate the propagation process.
In his remarks, IICA National Specialist Mr. Craig Thomas, gave a synopsis of the project and the reason behind its conceptualization, through an IICA-FAO LoA in 2020 which concentrated on the Antigua Black Pineapple value chain. He also expressed gratitude to the previous Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Chet Greene, for soliciting the support of IICA to revitalize the Antigua Black Pineapple, which he deem one of his top priority during his tenure. Thomas also eluded to IICA’s mission which is to support sustainable agricultural development and technological innovation.
Over fifteen (15) staff members from the Ministry of Agriculture participated in the training session facilitated by CARDI today, which not only demonstrated how to prepare the soil medium, but also the sanitization methods which are to be practiced while handling the plantlets, as well as the essentials of nursery management for the plantlets throughout the next 3-4 months prior to transplanting, at the Cades Bay Pineapple Station. Mr. Bradbury Browne-CARDI Irrigation Specialist, highlighted the project components which included nursery management, field transplanting, and the multiplication of suckers to gain additional clean planting materials. It is expected that the first 5000 plantlets will be transplanted in the field between January – February, 2025.
CARDI representative for Antigua & Barbuda and Monserrat, Mr. Junior Greene, in his remarks highlighted the importance for this activity and the potential outcome from this project for the Antigua Black pineapple industry and how CARDI though its ongoing research will continue to support the local producers.
Overall 15,000 tissue cultured Antigua Black Pineapple plantlets were procured under the project and will arrive in Antigua in batches and is expected to be transplanted over a three months period. The project will focus on rapid multiplication of clean planting materials under drip irrigation, using a ferti-irrigation system with plastic mulch techniques, to aid the increase in pineapple planting materials over the next 2-3 years before focusing on fruit production.
Additionally, the project will be procuring extra Antigua Black suckers from local pineapple producers which will undertake a series of analytical testing such as DNA fingerprinting of the previously mentioned fruit. This initiative which will be in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the government of Antigua and Barbuda.
The project is currently funded under the IICA DG Single Fund for Technical Cooperation to support IICA member states.