{"id":13712,"date":"2025-04-09T19:55:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T19:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/?p=13712"},"modified":"2025-04-09T19:55:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T19:55:14","slug":"project-update-sweet-potato-project-takes-root-local-varieties-shipped-to-usda-for-clean-up-and-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/project-update-sweet-potato-project-takes-root-local-varieties-shipped-to-usda-for-clean-up-and-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Update – Sweet Potato Project Takes Root: Local Varieties Shipped to USDA for Clean-Up and Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of the significant milestone for agricultural development in Antigua and Barbuda, the Sweet Potato Project has officially entered a new phase. On, Tuesday 8th<\/sup> April], the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in collaboration with the Agricultural Extension Division (AED), Plant Protection Unit (PPU) within the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), successfully shipped the first three sweet potato accessions to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).<\/p>\n

The varieties\u2014Hurricane<\/strong>, Black Rock<\/strong>, and King Crown<\/strong>\u2014were selected for their potential and contribution to local food security. Once in the U.S., these accessions will undergo a process known as \u201cclean-up\u201d in USDA laboratories. This process involves eliminating any pests, diseases, or viruses that could affect crop productivity. Once cleared, the clean planting material will be returned to Antigua and Barbuda for planting in research plots located at Cades Bay and CARDI.<\/p>\n

This initiative is an important step toward strengthening food systems, improving crop resilience, and preserving valuable local varieties.<\/p>\n

A special thank you goes out to the local producers who generously donated planting material to support this project. Their contribution highlights the power of community collaboration in advancing agricultural research and sustainability: which is ultimately aimed at Food Sovereignty and Food Security.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more updates as the Sweet Potato Project continues to grow\u2014rooted in science, nurtured by the ministry, partners, stakeholders and the wider community.<\/p>\n

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As part of the significant milestone for agricultural development in Antigua and Barbuda, the Sweet Potato Project has officially entered a new phase. On, Tuesday 8th April], the Inter-American Institute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,20,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cardi","category-iica","category-news-notices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13712"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13721,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712\/revisions\/13721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}