Advanced Plant Science Spurring Jamaica’s Post-Hurricane Crop Recovery

As Jamaica works to strengthen its food production systems and recover from the recent passage of Hurricane Melissa, advanced plant science is quietly playing a vital role—ensuring farmers have reliable access to clean, healthy, and abundant planting material.

One of the leading methods driving this effort is tissue culture technology, applied locally by the Scientific Research Council (SRC) to rapidly multiply crops and provide the agricultural sector with disease-free plants.

Team Leader for Biotechnology at the SRC, Dr. Collin Scantlebury, tells JIS News that tissue culture is a long-established scientific technique which enables entire plants to be grown from very small pieces of plant tissue.

“Tissue culture is a very old technique. It has been used since the early 20th century, where people found out that you can use a piece of a plant, maybe a leaf, a shoot tip, a node and from that, generate a whole entire plant,” he says.

Dr. Scantlebury notes that the process begins with carefully selected plant material, which is thoroughly sterilised to eliminate surface contaminants such as fungi and bacteria.

The cleaned tissue is then placed in a controlled, sterile environment on a nutrient-rich medium that supports its growth and development.

“From one, you can get thousands in a few weeks or a few months. So that’s one of the beauties of plant tissue culture,” Dr. Scantlebury states.

The team leader explains that, through its biotechnology programme, the SRC produces planting material for both commercial nurseries and the wider agricultural sector. This includes ornamentals such as anthuriums and orchids, as well as food and crop varieties essential to farmers.

Additionally, the Council collaborates closely with agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).

This partnership ensures that farmers receive uniform, high quality planting material, delivering crops that perform more reliably in the field.

Dr. Scantlebury shares that, beyond rapid multiplication, tissue culture also enables the production of cleaner, healthier plants by eliminating hidden diseases, including certain plant viruses.

He explains that specialised techniques allow scientists to work with extremely small sections of plant tissue under microscopes, enabling them to eliminate viruses that may be present in larger cuttings.

“One aspect of tissue culture is that, not only can we grow plants and rid them of surface fungus, but there’s also a very advanced technique where we can also remove viruses,” Dr. Scantlebury tells JIS News.

By starting with ultra small tissue samples, scientists increase the likelihood that regenerated plants will be free of viral infection. These healthier starter plants can translate into stronger yields and more resilient crops—an important advantage for national food security.

Dr. Scantlebury notes that although plants may begin virus-free in the laboratory, maintaining good field practices remains essential, since crops can still become reinfected if diseases are present in the environment.

Tissue culture proves especially valuable after major weather events that damage crops and planting stock. Because plants are already maintained and multiplied under controlled laboratory conditions, production can be scaled up far more quickly than with traditional field propagation.

“This is particularly important for crops that are not grown from seed but from cuttings or plant parts such as yam, potato, banana, pineapple and certain seasonings. When these are lost in the field, replacement material can be hard to source quickly through conventional means,” Dr. Scantlebury says.

He emphasises that with sustained investment in plant biotechnology and strong partnerships between research institutions and agricultural agencies, tissue culture will remain a cornerstone of Jamaica’s efforts to enhance crop resilience, increase farmer productivity, and secure long-term food sustainability.