UWI plants 105 breadfruit trees

TYRELL GITTENS

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) says over 820 million people suffer from chronic malnourishment worldwide, while 672 million people are obese.

These alarming statistics were presented by the dean of UWI’s Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA), Wayne Ganpat, to participants of the UWI’s 2019 World Food Day celebrations, hosted under the theme: Healthy diets to build a zero-hunger world. It took place at UWI’s Agricultural Innovation Park in Orange Grove.

As he highlighted the figures, Ganpat said, “We have undernourishment and hunger and on the other hand we have obesity and malnutrition. “These worldwide statistics are reflected in our own agriculture in TT.” This problem, he noted, was not only a global one but hit closer to home.

“We need to give more people increased access to food and we need to ramp up our production of more nutritious foods. Food is a basic and fundamental human right.”

To help achieve these goals, the FFA used this year’s World Food Day celebrations to launch the 105 to Stay Alive initiative, which is geared at planting 105 breadfruit trees at the park.

“The FFA is pleased to be part of this initiative. We chose to promote the breadfruit to the national community because it is a nutritious source of food, can be prepared in a variety of ways, grows successfully in a range of soil types and can be easily managed.”

Breadfruit could enhance national food security, he said. “It has the additional benefit of being a crop well suited to survival in times of changing conditions.”

Ganpat said the effort was also an integral part of the faculty’s mandate towards food security and educating people about healthy food choices through promoting highly nutritious vegetable crops.

Children from the Tunapuna Anglican Primary School were present for the day’s activities Gesturing to them, he said,”There is no better place to start the re-education of this crop than in our nation’s children.” The children helped by planting the first few breadfruit trees in the park’s fields.