Antigua and Barbuda

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Report

Plant Breeding and related Biotechnology Capacity

Antigua and Barbuda

Prepared by

Azim Hosein

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction _______________________________________________________1 2. National Agricultural Research System _________________________________1 Caribbean Agriculture and Research and Development Institute ________________ 1 Ministry of Agriculture ___________________________________________________ 2 Agricultural Development Corporation______________________________________ 2 3. Description and interpretation of the data from each questionnaire___________2

Ministry of Agriculture ___________________________________________________ 2 Agricultural Development Corporation______________________________________ 3 4. Assessment of the national plant breeding and associated biotechnology capacity ____________________________________________________________________4

Plant breeding centres ____________________________________________________ 4 Number and educational level of the scientists ________________________________ 4 Total budget and proportion allocated to plant breeding _______________________ 5 Main breeding programmes _______________________________________________ 5 Resource allocation by crop and improvement activities ________________________ 6 Budget distribution by major areas of the breeding research ____________________ 6 Involvement of the breeding programs in biotechnology research ________________ 6 Number of crosses, segregating populations, trials and locations _________________ 6 Source of germplasm used in the breeding programs __________________________ 6 Environment breeding priorities ___________________________________________ 6 Required help from the international community to increase efficient use of plant genetic resources ________________________________________________________ 7 Number of the varieties released by the institutions____________________________ 7 Most limiting aspects for the success of the crop breeding programs______________ 7 5. Conclusions and recommendations ____________________________________7 6. Short document to policy-makers ______________________________________7 7. References ________________________________________________________8 8. Attachments _______________________________________________________9 Attachment 1: Types of Institutions active in plant breeding ____________________ 9 Attachment 2: Dates of formation of Institutions active in plant breeding _________ 9 Attachment 3: Number of plant breeders and their education level _______________ 9 Attachment 4: Total budget and proportion allocated to plant breeding in EC Dollars

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Attachment 7: Allocation of the resources by research areas and crop or crop-group ______________________________________________________________________ 10 Attachment 8: Allocation of the resources by research areas versus the whole budget of the institutions _______________________________________________________ 10 Attachment 9: Average numbers of crosses, populations, trials and locations managed for every crop per year __________________________________________________ 10 Attachment 10: Main sources of germplasm used in the breeding programs in 2005 in

% ____________________________________________________________________ 11 Attachment 11: Environment breeding priorities by institution and crop_________ 12 Attachment 12: Required assistance from the international community __________ 12 Attachment 13: Limiting aspects for the success of the plant breeding program ___ 13 Attachment 14: List of people contacted with contact details ___________________ 13

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1. Introduction

Antigua and Barbuda’s economy is service-based, with tourism, financial, and government services representing the key sources of employment and income; tourism is the leading foreign exchange earner. Agriculture contributed 3.31% of Gross Value Added in 2006 (ECLAC, 2008b). The main agricultural products are cotton, fruits, vegetables, bananas, coconuts, mangoes, sugarcane and livestock, which are focused on the domestic market.

World Cup Cricket had boosted the economy but with the fall out of the 20:20 cricket, Antigua and Barbuda may have serious repercussions (FCO, 2009). It is important to note that Antigua and Barbuda’s economy is tightly linked with that of the OECS (ECLAC, 2008a).

Some 30% of land on Antigua and Barbuda is under crops or potentially arable, with 18% in use. Sea-island cotton is a profitable export crop. A modest amount of sugar is harvested each year, and there are plans for production of ethanol from sugarcane. Vegetables, including beans, carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, plantains, squash, tomatoes, and yams, are grown mostly on small family plots for local markets.

Over the past 30 years, agriculture's contribution to the GDP has fallen from over 40% to 12%.

The decline in the sugar industry left 60% of the country's 66,000 acres under government control, and the Ministry of Agriculture is encouraging self-sufficiency in certain foods in order to curtail the need to import food, which accounts for about 25% by value of all imports. Crops suffer from droughts and insect pests, and cotton and sugar plantings suffer from soil depletion and the unwillingness of the population to work in the fields. Mango production in 1999 was 1 000 tons (CARDI, 2008).

The FAO questionnaire discussed with the Heads of three organizations who have been involved in breeding under research, namely:

1. CARDI – Antigua and Barbuda

2. Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Marine Resources and Agro Industries 3. Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC)

We appreciate their sincere cooperation for their support in filling the questionnaires have been included in the online database on the Plant Breeding and related Biotechnology Capacity, available at http://km.fao.org/gipb/pbbc.

2. National Agricultural Research System

Caribbean Agriculture and Research and Development Institute

Caribbean Agriculture and Research and Development Institute (CARDI) - Antigua and Barbuda focuses principally on the production of commercial seeds of hot peppers, including West Indies Red, CARDI Green and Scotch Bonnet, for the Region. During the Medium Term 2008-2010, the portfolio has been expanded to include research and development on sweet potatoes. In the short term, the Unit will also assist the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to introduce more productive cultivars of cotton to boost the production of the crop on the island.

The plant breeding work is concentrated in sweet potatoes to characterize and select sweet potato varieties for their productivity, validate the effects of zones and photoperiodicity on sweet potato yield and improve the capacity in sweet potato IPM tactics. The second area of thrust is in hot peppers which is focused on commercial hot pepper seed production while the third area for research focus is in cotton to introduce or re-introduce elite cotton cultivars.

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Report on Plant Breeding and Related Biotechnology Capacity – Antigua and Barbuda 2

Ministry of Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is a public sector/government run research institution that has been involved in research activities since September of 1945. The research activities are focused primarily on germplasm enhancement and line evaluation of cotton and pineapples varieties. The MOA depends on CARDI to take leadership in their research programme.

Agricultural Development Corporation

The Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) is a Statutory Corporation established in May of 2005 that is involved in conducting research activities in the area of roots and tubers.

The research activities have been focused primarily on germplasm enhancement and line evaluation of sweet potatoes varieties.

3. Description and interpretation of the data from each questionnaire

The plant breeding and associated biotechnology capacity is described here under each institution.

Ministry of Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is a public sector organization that has commenced its plant breeding work in May 1945. The department is headed by post graduate officer with several technicians providing support services The MOA has not undertaken any biotechnology research.

At the start of the MOA has a budget of 45 000 EC dollars in 1985 which rose to 200 000 in 2000 and further increased to 800 000 EC dollars in 2005. The budget represents the total allocation to the department with no set allocation for plant breeding or biotechnology. Most ministries of Agriculture in the Caribbean operate in this manner.

The MOA work focuses on re-introduced long staple sea island cotton on its agenda and pineapple promoting the variety Antigua Black. In this regard, cotton commanded a large proportion of the research budget of 75 to 80% up to 1990 and then activity ceased. The MOA has made it clear it intends to restart work on cotton shortly. Work on pineapple remain important on the agenda of the ministry increasing from 20-25% to 100% of the allocation being spent on pineapple work.

The MOA main work on cotton is divided evaluating segregating population, evaluating fixed lines developed by the breeding programme as well as evaluating fixed lines introduced from other breeding programmes. However, the work in pineapple is limited to evaluating segregating population and the evaluation of fixed lines developed by the breeding programme.

There is no biotechnology activity.

The MOA strengths are dealing with germplasm development and line evaluation. However in the case of cotton there is a decreasing trend in both these activities as it relates to cotton.

The opposite is true for pineapple for while germplasm and line evaluation are being conducted, the activity relative to cotton is on the increase. For the year 2005), work in pineapples was mainly germplasm enhancement.

The MOA had conducted 6 field trials at two locations for cotton up to the year 1990. However, in pineapple in 2005, one trial was conducted at two locations.

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The MOA has introduces cotton germplasm from local germplasm bank and through bi and multilateral agreements and to a lesser extent from the national system. No introductions were made from the CGIAR group, networks or other agreements. In the case of pineapples, in an effort to retain the characters of the Antigua Black, introductions are solely form the local and national germplasm bank.

While the MOA focus was for all four characteristics in 1990, they were rated as low priority by 2005. The opposite was true for pineapple where the breeding for favorable environment, resistance/tolerance to biotic stresses followed the search for quality traits and with a low emphasis on breeding for resistance/tolerance to abiotic became more important from 1990 to 2005.

The international community can help by firstly by promoting training programmes on biotechnological tools while strengthening national programme capacity through investments and seeking to help in preparing projects for funding. Equally important is promoting training programmes on conventional breeding methods and facilitating germplasm exchange. The MOA is not convinced that there is need for facilitating access to new biotechnological tools obviously because there is no current biotechnology programme.

The MOA could not show any records pointing to the release of any variety either from cotton or pineapples during the period under review.

The MOA considers that inadequate number of breeders for each crop as the most critical of all the limitations and it continues to be so. While limited access to international genetic resources was a problem in the 1990s this is no longer a significant limitation. The MOA feels that support from the international community, including organizations like Centres of the CGIAR system, FAO, etc has become very important and the continued lack of financial resources while slightly improved is not adequate to carry out field and laboratory experiments or is there adequate availability of laboratory infrastructure to carry out experiments using advanced plant breeding techniques. The MOA is convinced that if the above challenges are addressed, issues such as inadequate experimental fields conditions, access to recent literature, knowledge level of the general plant breeding strategies, access to national public and/or private genetic resources, knowledge about participatory plant breeding techniques and knowledge about the use of molecular technique support plant breeding programmes can be more fully addressed later.

Agricultural Development Corporation

The Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) is a public sector, Statutory Corporation founded in May 2005 with the objective of improving production and productivity of root crops and tubers. The Corporation started with only one BSc person who is still with the corporation to conduct all activities. He is supported with limited technical staff to assist mainly with the field work. The ADV has no activities related to biotechnology.

The ADC started with a budget of 50 000 EC dollars and has since been increased to 100 000 EC in 2005. Thus it was only in 2005 that any work in plant breeding started. The agency to date works only in sweet potato

The ADC functions independently from the Ministry of Agriculture and its main work is in the areas of evaluating fixed lines developed by the breeding programme and evaluating fixed lines introduced from other breeding programmes.

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The main focus is moving towards germplasm enhancement taking about 80% of the budget while approximately 20% is spent line evaluation is considered to be of less importance. As mentioned before, there is no biotechnology activity.

ADC made 6 crosses and worked with 2 segregating populations. They have reached the stage of field trials with 8 trials established at three locations to evaluate the most promising of the selections

The ADC has more than 60% of germplasm from its local germplasm bank and the remainder 15% being sourced from farmers and 5% through germplasm evaluation networks.

The ADC main focus is in breeding for favorable environments, followed with equal importance to resistance/tolerance to biotic stresses and quality traits. The breeding and selection for resistance/tolerance to abiotic stresses while important is not critical.

The international community can help by firstly facilitating germplasm exchange and through the strengthening national programme capacity through investments and promoting training programmes on biotechnological tools, facilitating access to new biotechnological tools and promoting training programmes on conventional breeding methods. The ADC feels confident that they get this small support, they can prepare projects for funding and hence improve their plant breeding and biotechnology capacity.

The ADC being a very young corporation has not released any varieties to date.

The ADC considers that the limited access to international genetic resources, inadequate availability of laboratory infrastructure to carry out experiments using advanced plant breeding techniques are the two most important limitations to their capacity building.

the lack of support from the international community, including organizations like Centres of the CGIAR system, FAO, etc followed by lack of financial resources to carry out field and laboratory experiments were listed as important limitations while iinadequate number of breeders for each crop was important but was of lower priority. The ADC feels that issues such as iinadequate experimental fields conditions, access to recent literature, knowledge level of the general plant breeding strategies, limited access to national public and/or private genetic resources, lack of knowledge about participatory plant breeding techniques and the lack of knowledge about the use of molecular technique support plant breeding programmes were useful but not critical.

4. Assessment of the national plant breeding and associated biotechnology capacity

Plant breeding centres

The two main institutions MOA and ADC are public sector agencies (Attachments 1 and 2).

Number and educational level of the scientists

Information about number of scientists has been gathered in Full Time Equivalents¹. The MOA programme (Attachment 3) has on its staff at least one post graduate staff but has dwindled to only to a graduate staff in 2005. The ADC has used the services of the experience of a Graduate to manage this corporation. The size and population of Antigua and Barbuda limits the access to more and more highly qualified staff. Networking may prove to be an effective

1A Full Time Equivalent (FTE) is the work done by a person who has any responsibility linked to plant breeding (genetic enhancement, line development, line evaluation or genetic studies) during one year (365 days).

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means of meeting this shortfall. With such a small qualified staff, it is difficult for Antigua and Barbuda to undertake biotechnology work.

Total budget and proportion allocated to plant breeding

The MOA has increased its budget significantly from 1985 to 2005 from 45 000 to 800 000, but it was difficult to determine how much actually went to plant breeding. It is clear that none went to biotechnology. In comparison, ADC which stated in 2005 has a very conservative budget of 1 000 000 EC dollars for the work on sweet potato (Attachment 4). While the sums may be significant for a small country like Antigua and Barbuda, the amount may not be adequate to develop or sustain a significant breeding programme.

Main breeding programmes

The main breeding programmes (

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Attachment 5) are Cotton and pineapples conducted by the MOA and with sweet potato development work being conducted by ADC. While the work on pineapple appears to be on the increase, there are signs that the breeding work in cotton is decreasing. It is too early to determine if the work on sweet potato will decline or change course in the future. It should be noted that hot pepper seeds are multiplied by CARDI as part of a Caribbean programme and the breeding work in conducted in Trinidad. For more details on the hot pepper breeding work see the report form Trinidad and Tobago.

Resource allocation by crop and improvement activities

The MOA work on cotton is focused in three areas; the evaluation of segregating populations and fixed lines developed by the breeding programme and also fixed lines introduced from other breeding programmes. The country does not have a breeder at present and cotton development work is on the decline. The work on pineapple while on the increase is concentrated in only two areas which are the evaluation segregating populations and fixed lines developed by the breeding programmes (Attachment 6). Antigua and Barbuda has made some investments in the development of sweet potato through the ADC by evaluating fixed lines developed by the breeding programmes and evaluating fixed lines introduced from other breeding programmes. These methods were chosen mainly because there is no resident plant breeders graduates are the highest level of staff engaged at the year in reference.

Budget distribution by major areas of the breeding research

The breeding progammes are largely based on germplasm enhancement and line evaluation.

It is only in cotton and pineapples some small work is based on actual line development (Attachment 7). The work in cotton is definitely declining with some increased focus on pineapples. There is little to say on what is happening in sweet potato since this is a new organization with this crop that only started in the year in reference. The allocation to sweet potato shows some level of importance relative to the entire research programme in cotton and pineapples.

Involvement of the breeding programs in biotechnology research

In all the work conducted, Germplasm enhancement followed by line development is the major activity conducted by both MOA and ADC on the three crops, namely cotton, pineapples and sweet potato (Attachment 8). There is no activity in biotechnology research as a tool n plant breeding However, there may be opportunity to add value and impact to the breeding programmes more effectively if links could be established to benefit from such technology.

Number of crosses, segregating populations, trials and locations

There were no crosses made by the MOA and ADC in cotton and sweet potato respectively.

However, six crosses were made in pineapples. The MOA conducted evaluation on two sets of segregating populations considering all generations on pineapples (Attachment 9). Overall the major activity remains as the number of trials conducted. These number 9 spread over an eco range of four sites. The field work conducted on cotton precedes the reference period which is listed as 6 trials at two eco zones. The breeding programme appears to be hampered by both funding and human resource numbers and expertise.

Source of germplasm used in the breeding programs

Most of the germplasm utilized in all three crops being developed by the MOA and the ADC depend heavily on local germplasm, national system and farmers. Only in sweet potato is networking utilized as a means of improving and enhancing its programme. The programme in cotton did use a small amount of support through multi lateral agreements (Attachment 10).

Environment breeding priorities

In terms of plant breeding priorities, there is a low priority in all areas for cotton with increased priority for all factors in pineapples. The MOA places high priority on all factors pointing to low

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focus in the breeding b programme. With the exception of abiotic stress factors, all other areas were considered as very important in the sweet potato development programme (Attachment 11). There has been a radical change in priority from the 1990 to the reference 2005 in cotton and pineapple. It was not possible so say if there is any shift in priority in dealing with various stresses in plan development for sweet potato.

Required help from the international community to increase efficient use of plant genetic resources

The MOA and ADC expressed the need for training on biotechnological tools and the strengthening of national programmes capacity through investments as being important. There is common need by both institutions for help in facilitating germplasm exchange and promoting training programmes on conventional breeding methods, only ADC indicated it needed access to new biotechnological tools. The MOA indicated that it needs some capacity development to prepare projects for funding (Attachment 12).

Number of the varieties released by the institutions

The small indistinguishable budgets by the MOA and ADC in plant breeding coupled with the amount and quality of staff may be the reason why no varieties have been released to date.

The MOA together with the ADC should therefore seek new alternatives in dealing with their programme.

Most limiting aspects for the success of the crop breeding programs

Inadequate number of breeders for each crop and the lack of adequate number of plant breeders have been cited as the most limiting factors affecting the plant breeding programme in Antigua and Barbuda. This is followed by Inadequate availability of laboratory infrastructure to carry out experiments using advanced plant breeding techniques and the lack of financial resources to carry out field and laboratory experiments appears to be restricting accelerated work in plant breeding. Issue such as inadequate experimental fields conditions, inadequate access to recent literature, limited access to national public and/or private genetic resources and lack of knowledge about participatory plant breeding techniques did not appear to be critical to the programme (Attachment 13). There have been only slight changes in focus with MOA, showing a preference towards biotechnology.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

The Antigua and Barbuda national capacity firstly needs to be consolidated to enhance efficiencies and share knowledge and experiences. It is not greatly beneficial to have more than one group dealing with plant breeding and or biotechnology. The size of country and budget cannot support several organizations. There appears to be reluctance to more fully utilize the international organizations for germplasm resources. This would be more cost effective and provide a higher level of human capacity and should produce faster and more effective results. Antigua and Barbuda may wish to consider contracting out its research to more established institutions than trying to conduct such work on its own.

6. Short document to policy-makers

Advice to policy makers on plant breeding and the use of biotechnology as a mean of improving high quality agricultural outputs:

• Antigua and Barbuda needs to link more strongly with international and regional institutions to conduct its plant breeding and biotechnology work

• The country can be a centre of excellence fro multiplication of seeds for establish varieties

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• Link and include Antigua and Barbuda unique germplasm material to international germplasm banks for safe keeping and genetic improvement work.

• International institutions will be contacted to bring standards in records and document control so that there is uniformity and ease of accessing and sharing material and knowledge generated. Hence formal instruments signed between Government of Guyana and international institutions relevant to plant breeding and biotechnology.

• Establish national protocols for the easy movement of materials and enact legislation for standards to be observed in such movement

• Include in the national budget funds for this development.

7. References

CARDI (2008). Work Programme for the Medium Term: Antigua and Barbuda.

ECLAC (2008a). ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA DEVELOPMENT PROFILE.

ECLAC (2008b). Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, Antigua and Barbuda.

FCO (2009). Antigua and Barbuda today

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8. Attachments

Attachment 1: Types of Institutions active in plant breeding

Institution Status

Ministry of agriculture Public Sector (research Institute

Agriculture Development Corporation (ADC) Public Sector (research Institute)

Attachment 2: Dates of formation of Institutions active in plant breeding

Institution Status Plant breeding since

Ministry of agriculture Public Sector (research Institute 1945

Agriculture Development Corporation (ADC) Public Sector (research Institute) 2005

Attachment 3: Number of plant breeders and their education level

Institution Educational level 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

20-29 30-39 40-49 =>50

Ministry of agriculture BSc 1

MSc 1 1 1 1

PhD

ADC BSc 1

MSc PhD

Total 1 1 1 1 1 1

Attachment 4: Total budget and proportion allocated to plant breeding in EC Dollars

Institution Budget 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Total Budget 45,000 - 50,000 200,000 800,000 Ministry of agriculture

%

Total Budget 100,000

Plant Breeding ADC

%

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Attachment 5: Resource allocation (human and financial) for plant breeding activities by crop

1985 1985 1990 1990 1995 1995 2000 2000

Institution MOA ADC MOA ADC MOA ADC MOA ADC

Fiber crops (Cotton) 80% 75%

Roots and Tubers/ Cassava,

Aroids, Sweet potato 100%

Miscellaneous/ Pineapple,

Musa Spp. Etc. 20% 25% 100% 100%

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Attachment 6: Main breeding programmes

Crop or crop-group Specify crop (s) Making crosses Evaluating segregating populations

Evaluating fixed lines developed by the breeding programmes

Evaluating fixed lines introduced from other breeding programmes

MOA ADC MOA ADC MOA ADC MOA ADC

Fiber crops Cotton Yes Yes Yes

Roots and Tubers Sweet potato Yes Yes

Vegetables and Fruits Pineapple Yes Yes

Attachment 7: Allocation of the resources by research areas and crop or crop-group

Allocation Germplasm

enhancement Line development Line evaluation Institution Crop

% Trend % Trend % Trend

Total

ADC Sweet potato 80 20 100

MOA Cotton 80 3 3 20 3 100

MOA Pineapples 85 2 2 15 1 100

Attachment 8: Allocation of the resources by research areas versus the whole budget of the institutions

Institution Research area 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Line development and evaluation 20

Plant biotechnology MOA

Germplasm enhancement 100 100 100 100 80

Line developmentand evaluation 20

Plant biotechnology ADC

Germplasm enhancement 80

Attachment 9: Average numbers of crosses, populations, trials and locations managed for every crop per year

Activities Institution Crop

No. of crosses made

No. of segregating populations considering all

generations

No. of trials No. of locations used for field trials

MOA Pineapple 6 2 8 3

MOA Cotton 6* 2

ADC Sweet potato 1 2

* These trials were done prior to 2005

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Attachment 10: Main sources of germplasm used in the breeding programs in 2005 in %

Germplasm source Institution Crop

Local germplasm

bank

National germplasm

bank

Introduction through bi or

multilateral agreements

Introduction through participation in germplasm evaluation

networks

CGIAR gene banks

Public organizations in

industrialized country

Private sector

Farmers material

Total

MOA Pineapple 80 20 100

MOA Cotton 70 10 20

ADC Sweet potato 80 5 15 100

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Report on Plant Breeding and related Biotechnology Capacity – Guyana 12

Attachment 11: Environment breeding priorities by institution and crop

1980s 2005

Crop or crop-group Environment breeding priority

MOA ADC MOA ADC

Sweet potato (ADC) High favourable High

priority

High priority

With abiotic stress Low

priority

Low priority

With biotic stress High

priority

High priority

Quality traits Low

priority

High priority Fiber- Cotton (MOA) High favourable High

priority

Low priority With abiotic stress High

priority

Low priority

With biotic stress High

priority

Low priority

Quality traits High

priority

Low priority

Pineapple (MOA) High favourable Low

priority

High priority

With abiotic stress Low

priority

High priority

With biotic stress Low

priority

High priority

Quality traits Low

priority

High priority

Attachment 12: Required assistance from the international community

Areas of assistance MOA ADC

Promoting training on biotechnological tools 1 3

Promoting training programmes on conventional breeding methods

4 5

Helping preparing projects for funding 3

Facilitating germplasm exchange 5 1

Facilitating access to new biotechnological tools 4

Strengthening national programmes capacity through investments

2 2

Other (specify) Promoting collaborative Research &

Research Excellence

Note: number “1” to the most important and “5” to the least important

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Attachment 13: Limiting aspects for the success of the plant breeding program

1980s 2005

Limiting aspect MOA ADC MOA ADC

Inadequate number of breeders for each crop 1 5 1 5

Inadequate experimental fields conditions Inadequate access to recent literature

Inadequate knowledge level of the general plant breeding strategies

4 2

Limited access to international genetic resources 1 1

Limited access to national public and/or private genetic resources

Lack of knowledge about participatory plant breeding techniques

Lack of knowledge about the use of molecular technique support plant breeding programmes

5 5

Inadequate availability of laboratory infrastructure to carry out experiments using advanced plant breeding techniques

2 2 3 2

Lack of financial resources to carry out field and laboratory experiments

3 4 4 4

Lack of support from the international community, including organizations like Centres of the CGIAR system, FAO, etc

3 3

Note: number “1” to the most important and “5” to the least important

Attachment 14: List of people contacted with contact details

Mr. Edmeade Samuel General Manager

Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) P. O Box 138

Diamonds Estate Antigua and Barbuda 1-268-463-2500 adc@antigua.gov.ag

Mr. George Isaac Farmer

Jonas Road Antigua 1-268-720-8945

Mr. Julius Ross Technical Consultant

Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Marine Resources and Agro industry

Queen Elizabeth Highway, St. John’s Antigua

1-268-770-0161 1-268-562-7164 ross1750@yahoo.com

Mr. Carlton Hampson

Agricultural Stations Coordinator

1-268-764-9696

carltonhampson@yahoo.com

Dr. Linroy Christian

Microbiologist / Molecular Biologist Chemistry and Food Division

1-268- 462-6281 1-268- 726-6025 lchristian@apuainet.ag

Jennifer Maynard, Director of Agriculture,

Queen Elizabeth Highway, St. John’s Antigua

1-268-770-0161 1-268-562-7164 Maud Vere Bradford

Crop Research Unit, Ministry of Agriculture, Friar’s Hill, St. John’s, Antigua 1-268-770-0161

1-268-562-7164