Two New Dasheen Cultivars Land in Barbados as CARDI and BADMC Push the 25% Food-Import-Cut Target by 2030

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, working through its St Vincent and the Grenadines tissue-culture laboratory, has delivered two new high-yield dasheen cultivars to the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation — IND512, a red petiole variety yielding four to eight pounds per plant, and Samoana, a green petiole producing five to ten pounds. Both varieties reach harvest in seven to nine months.

The numbers matter for a regional target most Caribbean ministries acknowledge they are not on track to meet. CARICOM’s 25%-cut-in-food-imports goal by 2030 has been the public framing since 2022. Root crops are one of the categories where domestic production can plausibly displace imports if yield, climate adaptation and farmer uptake all align. CARDI’s country representative Christina Pooler confirmed the new cultivars have already been trialled in several islands and have shown both yield improvement and climate adaptation suited to Caribbean conditions.

Badmc on The Tradewinds Brief

Two New Dasheen Cultivars Land in Barbados as CARDI and BADMC Push the 25% Food-Import-Cut Target by 2030