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(Date Posted:02/09/2008 05:53:02)
The Minister of Agro Industry and Fisheries, Dr A. Boolell, visited this morning(Sept 01) the Crop Research Station of the Agricultural Research and Extension Unit (AREU) in Réduit where research trials on 49 wheat varieties are being conducted.The aim of those trials is to assess the feasibility of spring wheat production in Mauritius so as to reduce our imports and meet local demand for the commodity. The 49 varieties, imported from CIMMITY, an international research centre on wheat and maize based in Mexico, were sown on an area of 1,500m2 in April 2008 for testing under local conditions and selection. The criteria for selection are earliness, high grain yield and tolerance to major pests and diseases. To-date, three varieties have been harvested with a yield of five tons per hectare. Dr Boolell commended the project, which, he said, has been a success story based on both intra and extra institutional cooperation among the Ministry, the Mauritius Sugar Industry and Research Institute, the State Trading Cooperation, the National Plant Protection Office, Les Moulins de la Concorde (LMLC) and other agricultural services. He stressed the need to find the means on how best to implement the actual project of wheat cultivation in different areas of Mauritius. The minister said that the success of the pilot project could contribute to Mauritius benefiting from European Commission funding to sustain its new policies in the agricultural sector. He also recalled efforts to establish and encourage cooperation with regional partners such as Madagascar and Zambia and called for the setting up of a regional food consortium to make sure that investments on food commodities get fruitful returns. The next step of the pilot project on wheat cultivation will be the post harvest assessment where physical and chemical tests will be carried out in collaboration with LMLC to select varieties with the best baking characteristics. Then mechanisation of sowing and harvesting operations will be undertaken to determine the viability of large-scale wheat production.
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