Sweet pepper production going places – NAREI
The National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) is reporting that production of sweet peppers by local farmers last year reduced the country’s food import bill by $20 million.
A release received by the Stabroek Business from NAREI’s Mon Repos headquarters links the breakthrough in sweet pepper production to the Institute’s “focus extensively on increasing crop production and enhancing diversification.”
The release says that in 2018, production of “non- traditional crops” would increase by at least 2.5 percent, pointing to its work with the Canadian- backed Promotion of Regional Opportunities for Produce through Enterprise and Linkages (PROPEL) in the local cultivation and potato and onions as a possible contributory factor.
NAREI says that having recognized in 2013 that there was a high local demand for bell peppers and given its significant contribution to the food import bill, the agency went into “planning mode,” importing seeds and carrying out tests on a number of varieties of sweet pepper in order to determine which would adapt best to the local climate. Following the tests NAREI says it identified the Aristotle, Jade and Early Sunsation varieties as the most suitable for local conditions. NAREI says it introduced these varieties to local farmers and provided them with training associated with their cultivation and care.
The NAREI release names Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice farmer, Dhaniram Ramchand, Proprietor of Green