Within the next two years, at least 30 acres of lands in Regions Four, Five, Seven and 10 would be dedicated to breadfruit cultivation in an effort to promote food security and value addition, Dr. Oudho Homenauth, Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) has announced.
To support the project, NAREI is benefiting from the services of breadfruit expert, Dr. Laura Roberts-Nkrumah of the University of the West Indies’ Agriculture and Food Production Department. He was invited to Guyana by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on request of NAREI.
“President David Granger at the National Tree Day activity in 2015 indicated the importance of Breadfruit,” Dr Homenauth stated.
He said the Institute did not want to wait on a directive and so approached the AFO for help.
According to Dr Homenauth, the Institute acquired over 1,000 breadfruit seedlings from Global Breadfruit. While hundreds have been distributed to farmers in various Regions, NAREI will be cultivating a significant amount.
This is to ensure the availability of affordable quality planting material since the current market price for a breadfruit plant is $3,000.
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 first-hand look at the various varieties of breadfruit that are available locally.
On Friday, there will be a practical session for the propagating breadfruit from root cuttings at NAREI’s Mon Repos location.
