Lettuce potential

There is potential for Barbados to grow more lettuce for local consumption and significantly cut down on the food import bill.

So says Owen Gamble, Senior Agricultural Assistant. He was speaking yesterday morning during a Romaine Lettuce Field Day event held at the CARDI Facility at the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to Gamble, the production of romaine lettuce is expanding across the world and he suggests Barbados is in a unique position to actively participate in the growing of that commodity, as the local climate is ideal for year-round production.

His comments came as he explained that even though loose head lettuce is popular here, the demand for romaine lettuce is on the increase. With that in mind, he reiterated the potential for Barbados to grow more of the commodity. Moreover, showing the audience a slide of the top seven vegetables imported into Barbados in 2011, both in terms of weight and cost, he pointed out that in respect of lettuce which ranked fifth, more than 280 000 kilogrammes were imported at that time, at a cost that exceeded $680 000.

Given that, he revealed that lettuce is one of the priority crops for which the country could benefit from with respect to import substitution to help bring the aforementioned figures down.

Gamble spoke then of production systems for lettuce. He said while it is done mostly in the field, indoor using greenhouses, or the use of aquaponics and hydroponics systems are also popular choices. He added that if local farmers are going to be encouraged to plant romaine lettuce, it is imperative that they know the challenges which can be encountered.

Those include, he said, bolting which is a physiological condition where there is early flowering in response to stress before maturity; lettuce tipburn, a calcium deficiency disorder and cultivated varieties (cultivars) that are unknown to producers.

To that end, Gamble said given the potential market, the Ministry is currently doing research on romaine lettuce production through which they intend to identify the optimum cultivars for local production. Additionally, he said are searching for potential crop enhancement products. Referring to specifics of the research, he disclosed that after 34 days all of the varieties that were planted are growing well. (JRT)