Paw-paw revival ‘could cut imports’ — agriculture officials

Barbados could significantly reduce imports of paw-paw — also known as papaya — within a few years if farmers adopt new disease-tolerant varieties and integrated pest-management techniques now being validated in local trials, senior agriculture officials said on Tuesday.

Acting Chief Agricultural Officer Michael James revealed the findings with Barbados TODAY as a workshop on managing the fruit’s nutrition and pests opened. The ministry, farmers, the University of the West Indies (The UWI), the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) have been working with major input suppliers to tackle the bunchy top disease that devastated the once-thriving paw-paw industry.

The industry’s collapse was not sudden. Barbados once produced papaya at commercial scale, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s, before the bunchy-top disease wiped out most orchards.

By 2024, national production had plunged to the point where the island relied heavily on imports to meet domestic demand, prompting a renewed push by the government and agriculture agencies to rebuild the crop as part of the broader food security agenda.

“The major problem with the papaya industry in Barbados is bunchy top,” James said. “It is a disease vectored by an insect, and the causal agent is, at this present time that we know, a bacterium, a fastidious bacterium.”

The ministry launched a research project several years ago after recognising that some trees showed tolerance to the disease.

“The whole idea was to get some of those seeds, get some other seeds that are around, and see how well they do,” he said. “You would like to get resistance… but really and truly looking for tolerance, that it can tolerate the disease but still give you production.”

At least ten varieties had been tested so far, with “one or two” showing promising tolerance. However, the most significant results came when the trials incorporated integrated pest-management practices.

“They eventually can know the bunchy top,” he said, “but you still managed to get some good yields, which is important… better than having to grow the crop and it coming down with the bunchy top and you’re not getting as much yield.”

According to James, both ministry plots and farmers involved in the off-site trials were able to produce marketable yields using these methods.

He said the next hurdle was farmer buy-in.

“It can only do that if you have greater uptake with farmers,” he said, responding to whether the new method was enough to revitalise the papaya industry domestically.

“Farmers are in it to make a profit… so I think this workshop will go somewhere in assuaging those fears by saying: ‘Yes, we think if you follow this prescription, you can get yields that can give you a profit.’”

James acknowledged that the crop, and with this new method, can be “more intensive” to manage than others, requiring closer attention to nutrition, field conditions and pest control, but stressed that the returns justified the effort.

“It is worth it,” he said, citing planning unit figures that Barbados imported the equivalent of an acre’s yield — around 44 000 to 47 000 kilograms — last year. “We don’t have to import it, or we might reduce the imports, if you get persons more interested.”

The crop’s nutritional value and versatility also make a strong case for expansion, he added. “It can be used as a fruit; it can be used as a vegetable,” he said.

Representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Allister Glean, also urged Barbadians to support the revival by changing their own habits.

“How many of you all are deciding, ‘I am going to eat papaya?’” he asked during the ceremony. “We talk about food security… but if we really want to be independent, then we have to consider food security as a key tenet to that overall independence.”

He said the committee’s goal was to “resuscitate the industry” and encourage both farmers and consumers to embrace local papaya as part of reducing reliance on imported fruit.

“We need a cadre… a troop… a platoon of farmers who are willing to carry along the cause,” he said, applauding those present. “This information is what will lead to transformation. Knowledge equates to power.”

The two-day workshop brings together researchers, farmers, agronomists, extension officers and regional agencies as they work to stabilise production and restore the crop to a viable commercial option.

shannamoore@barbadostoday.bb