Farmers Now More Equipped to Drive Yam Production Through New Tissue Culture Training

Saint Lucia has taken decisive action to address the national decline in yam availability through a targeted training initiative led by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development.

Responding to concerns from farmers and retailers, CARDI, supported by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), worked with the Ministry’s Tissue Culture Laboratory to mass-multiply local and imported yam varieties using advanced tissue culture technology. This process enabled the rapid production of thousands of high-quality plantlets, with more than 20,000 expected to be ready for farmers by August 2026.

The workshop equipped farmers with essential skills in handling and cultivating tissue-cultured plantlets, ensuring strong field performance and higher yields. Farmers were also introduced to two new climate-resilient varieties, CIRAD-178 and CIRAD-169, which can withstand both extreme drought and waterlogging.

CARDI Country Representative and Scientist, Barry Innocent, highlighted the importance of the initiative.“The approach taken was to generate new plants from local planting material using the tissue culture process, which allows for the production of thousands of plants in a much shorter time than traditional propagation methods. As the Guardian Eco-partner, I worked with the Ministry of Agriculture through the Tissue Culture Laboratory to facilitate the production of thousands of tissue-cultured yam plants,” he added.

CARDI’s technical team, included a visiting yam agronomist, who continued supporting farmers as the island prepares for a major boost in yam production. This collaborative effort strengthened food security, improved resilience, and supported the long-term sustainability of Saint Lucia’s agricultural sector.