Ginger Farmers To Benefit From Renovated Hardening Facility At Bodles

Ginger farmers are to benefit from the newly renovated hardening facility at the Bodles Research Station, in St. Catherine, which is expected to help increase production.

Weaning and hardening is important for plant propagation, where plantlets are taken from the controlled laboratory environment in tissue culture, for gradual introduction to the outdoors.

This requires a protected agricultural structure that prevents sudden exposure to the elements, including sunlight, rain and insects.

Acting Principal Research Director for the Research and Development Division in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Michelle Sherwood, explained that the plant moves from the lab to the greenhouse and then into the field.

“We are able to use the facility to grow out seedlings for ginger, using the single bud technology brought to us from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). We were able to produce over 14,000 seedlings that are growing out in six nurseries across the island,” she told JIS News in an interview.

Renovation of the hardening facility also aligns with efforts to build resilience to climate change, through the use of climate smart construction.

The Caribbean Regional Track of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) notes that weaning and hardening facilities are designed to withstand the climate-sensitivity of the surroundings and improve the availability of suitable planting material.

The Caribbean Regional Track of the PPCR is one of two regional tracks of the global PPCR. The Caribbean Regional Track is working to: improve regional processes to acquire, store, analyse, access and disseminate climate relevant data.

Mrs. Sherwood also said with the renovation work done on the hardening facility, “we are poised to be able to re-engage the ginger sector in being able to expand the production of ginger across the island.”

“We now have seedlings that we can grow in the field. Once again we can provide farmers with clean planting material. Just like a newborn baby, you want to be able to put them into a new, clean environment so that they can be able to realise their full potential,” she said.

The renovation was done under Phase One of the Redevelopment of Research Centres Project, which began in April 2018 and will end in fiscal year 2022/2023.

Over $766 million has already been spent during Phase one of the Programme, which focuses on rehabilitating the Bodles Research Station.

Phase two of the programme will see renovation work being done at the Hounslow, Montpelier, Orange River and Top Mountain research stations, beginning later this year.