At least 30 acres of land in Regions Four, Five, Seven and 10 has been secured over the past two years for the cultivation of breadfruit in an effort to promote food security and value adding. This was according to Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), Dr Oudho Homenauth.
Breadfruit expert, Dr Laura Roberts-Nkrumah of the University of the West Indies’ Agriculture and Food Production Department was invited to Guyana by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on the request of NAREI.
Dr Homenauth recalled that the Institute then acquired over 1000 breadfruit seedlings from Global Breadfruit. While hundreds have been distributed to farmers in various Regions, NAREI will be cultivating a significant number. This is to ensure the availability of affordable quality planting material since the current market price for a breadfruit plant is G$3000.
“President David Granger at the National Tree Day activity in 2015 indicated the importance of breadfruit … We did not wait on a directive … We started looking at increasing breadfruit production… But, to do that we needed quality planting materials….Also, we needed to know what we have and so we approached the FAO for assistance in this regard,” he noted.
For the next two days, Dr Roberts-Nkrumah, accompanied by a team from NAREI, would be visiting various breadfruit-producing communities in Regions Four and Five. This activity would allow a firsthand look at the various varieties of breadfruit that are available locally.
On Friday, there will be a practical session for the propagating of breadfruit from root cuttings at NAREI’s Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD) location.
