In Barbados, High-Tech Agriculture

Barbados’ Agriculture Ministry has been working to apply greenhouse technology to improve crop yields in the country.

According to officials from the Central Agronomic Research Station, the organization has been exploring the use of so-called “row covers” in the cultivation of hot peppers and beans in particular, with what it calls “very encouraging results.”

“One of the fundamental ways in which we have to increase our production of fruits and vegetables in Barbados would be to utilise technology whenever possible,” said Agriculture Minister Dr David Estwick. “We want to be able to say to Barbadians that there is a low-cost way of achieving many of the production advantages that one would usually get within the large greenhouse application of that technology.”

According to agronomist Stevenson Skeete, the research trial on project peppers had ben very positive.

“Often the improvement is usually 10, 15 or 20 percent, but this one factor of covering the hot peppers in these special fields has given us a dramatic increase,” he said.

Row covers are protective materials used to shield crops from harsh elements and damage from insects. According to Skeete’s research, peppers in the study grown under row covers could be as much as five times the size of those cultivated in the open.

–Barbados Information Service