A Dasheen Adoption Survey was conducted in Agricultural District 5 East within Agricultural Region 2 by Agricultural Officer Donawa Jackson together with his technical team, Alston Lynch and Patricia Swift during the month of July 2022.
This survey sought to identify factors associated with increased adoption or acreage of two CARDI-introduced dasheen cultivars, Somoa (green petiole) and IND512 (red petiole).
Based on a series of research evaluations and farm trials from 2010 to 2014, these two cultivars were selected as the best performers. Randomly selected farmers from Maroon Hill, Bahamia, Hopewell, Montreal and Francois were interviewed for the survey.
Statistical analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data from survey respondents indicate that the following factors are associated with increased adoption of the new dasheen cultivars in 2022:
- Excellent adaptability to varying climatic conditions, soil types and soil fertility status,
- Higher yields as is evident by larger corm sizes,
- Faster rate of growth, bigger and taller plants, significantly reducing labour costs for weed control,
- Less post-harvest losses as seen by longer shelf life,
- Market outlets both locally and regionally by local vendors and inter-island traders,
- Less susceptible to pests and diseases such as aphids, mealy bugs, moulds and phythopthora,
- Excellent eating qualities, less starchy and less cooking time is required and,
- Suckers can be removed from mother plants for planting without adversely affecting the plant growth and yield.
Several respondents indicated that they will not totally replace the two (2) local or traditional dasheen cultivars, but will gradually reduce their acreages with the new cultivars.
The new cost of production for these new cultivars should be determined to determine yield per acre and profit margins. The provision of tissue culture planting materials to farmers who want to get into production or expand their acreage. The local, regional, and international demands should all be taken into account in order to reduce undersupply or oversupply.
