Increased acreage of land for breadfruit production imminent

Within the next two years at least 30 acres of lands in Regions Four, Five, Seven and 10 will be dedicated to breadfruit cultivation in an effort to promote food security and value addition, says Dr. Oudho Homenauth, Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI).

CEO of NAREI, Dr. Oudho Homenauth and Breadfruit Expert , Dr. Laura Roberts-Nkrumah of the University of the West Indies.

According to Dr. Homenauth, during an introductory meeting, breadfruit expert, Dr. Laura Roberts-Nkrumah met with several Research staff of the Institute at NAREI’s Boardroom. 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 request of NAREI.

“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,” Dr. Homenauth noted.

He recalled that in 2015 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 will 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 breadfruit from root cuttings at NAREI’s Mon Repos location.