Success stories from the Anse Boileau Research Centre |03 July 2013

During his visit at various agricultural sectors in the west of Mahé in May which took in the Anse Boileau and Grand Anse research centres, President James Michel said that agriculture is one of the pillars of our economy and therefore deserves great attention. The President also said the visit was an opportunity for him to see the level of improvement as a result of the different measures being put in place and how this sector can move forward in its development.

 Referring to the newly renovated Grand Anse Research Centre, the President said it holds the key to future development in that sector.

 “The research centre should make further studies and see how best to develop plants that can easily adapt to our climate, taking into considerations the effects of climate change as well as our soil types in order to have a better variety of plants for more harvesting,” said the president.

Young chilli plants - the white variety -  at the Centre

www.nation.sc contacted Mr Keven Nancy, director of Research and Development at the Anse Boileau Research Centre, for an overview of research projects being done there. It is very clear that the centre has accomplished a lot in research and innovative ways in farming and therefore has lots of success stories to tell.

 The Anse Boileau Research Centre has undertaken various types of research works in the agricultural field on pests and diseases, crop water response, soil fertility, variety screening, root crop and fruit trees to name the major ones.

To be more detailed on those research projects, the Pest and Disease sector has seen the evaluation of biological pesticides to control pest --  Affirm, laser and neemik for EFSB in eggplant; laser and neemik for leafminer in lettuce, Chinese cabbage and tomatoes; Agri colle for powdery mildew in cucurbits and  spinosad for melon fruit fly; Thuricides for plutella in cabbage.

 The Crop water response has seen the evaluation of water efficiency using Diviner 200 to determine the amount of water for irrigation in cucumber.

The Nutrient Management is the evaluation of crop response and yield using different types of manure and different rates of manure in banana, Chinese cabbage and lettuce.

As for Variety Screening there has been the evaluation of the adaptability potential of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, pumpkin, tomato, watermelon, chilli, eggplant and radish.

Root crop and fruit trees also saw the evaluation of different varieties of cassava and sweet potatoes and success rates of grafting in citrus.

All those researches have been a success and the centre is pleased to announce that results have already been implemented and are available for farmers. As for Pest and Disease, the biopesticides are available at the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) requisite store. As for the Crop water response it needs a long term study for more conclusive result.

For the Nutrient Management, the farmers are encouraged to use chicken manure in leafy crops and fruit trees instead of using synthetic fertilisers. Different varieties are available at the SAA requisite store for the Variety Screening.

As for Root crops and fruit trees, the various varieties of cassava and sweet potatoes are propagated to increase production on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue.

Red Lady - a type of papaya under research at Anse Boileau

 The centre has also introduced new ways of planting to deal with the climate change issue and they have named some products and innovative ways in planting:

- For the water use efficiency, Diviner 2000 is used to measure soil water content and crop response to related percentage of water to minimise amount of water used in irrigation.

- Adoption of fertigation which is the use of fertiliser dissolved in water through the irrigation system. 

- The evaluation study of crop climate change relationship to determine and index of crop (lettuce) vulnerability climate change.  

- The adoption and modification of shade houses to protect crops from heavy rainfall and extreme temperature.

Concerning pesticides the research centre has discovered new methods and new types of pesticides that can be used in this day and age for more productive results. Synthetic pesticides have been replaced with biopesticides. Examples of such are laser for leafminer replacing Trigard and neemik ; laser and affirm replacing Nomolt for EFSB; thuricides replacing decis for Plutella; bait spray and spinosad for melon fruit fly.

The research centre has also managed to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides by practicing high level sanitation and crop rotation.

 “When it comes to farmers being innovative in agriculture, the responses vary,” says Mr Nancy.

“Yes they are aware of the new methods introduced but some tend to adapt to new ways of doing things while others wait and see how it works on other farms before investing in them. There are also those who prefer keeping their traditional ways of farming because some people are real scared of venturing into new things.

Sometimes it also depends on how costly the innovation being introduced can be and Mr Nancy cited an example when they were introducing new irrigation system to help farmers conserve water and prevent wastage of fertiliser depletion of soil fertility. Farmers with higher purchasing power went straight for the new technology while others did it gradually depending on their financial situation.

As for the monitoring process, extension officers visit farms on a one to one basis but Mr Nancy agrees it is not the frequency they would have liked. To improve on that the research centre is in the process of improving on their extension services towards the farming community by introducing a service whereby farmers will receive advice through a telephone system. This will be either through text or voice messages in cases where they cannot read or write.

 “We also carry out workshops, demonstrations and field days to facilitate the process of transferring the technologies and knowledge to farmers or to help them understand how to implement them. As for more specific or complicated issues, extension officers bring a subject matter specialist along when they go on site visits,” concluded Mr Nancy.

The centre is open to anyone who wishes to visit, to see or learn about the new methods discovered in farming and agriculture. But it organises special open days for school children and students from the Seychelles Horticultural and Farmers Training Centre (SHFTC).

‘To evaluate the economic profitability of sweet pepper in the open field' - This is what this sign post indicates on the type of research that is being done on this sweet pepper plantation at the Anse Boileau Research Centre