Contributed photo
USAID's Mosina Jordan, right, shares a point with Minister of Commerce and Technology Phillip Paulwell at the Symposium.USING biotechnology applications, the Scientific Research Council (SRC) has produced a range of disease-free plantlets, including banana, plantain, ginger and various ornamentals for farmers, horticulturists and hobbyists.
And the SRC Gene Bank, which conserves "the rich biodiversity of Jamaica's economically important plant species, including fruit crops and medicinals," now has largest banana (USA) Gene Bank in the western hemisphere.
This was revealed by Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell, at a symposium entitled, "Commercial Science and Technology," hosted by the Mona school of Business (MSB) and the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in association with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday.
Tissue-cultured plantlets of banana that are free of important local diseases, the Minister said, are now being supplied to small-scale farmers as part of a contract with the European Union.
Mr. Paulwell also told the large gathering that the SRC has also simulated and promoted several new innovations for increased economic activities through the development of new food products. Noting that more than 50 formulations had been developed by the Food Technology Institute (FTI) of the SRC, using indigenous raw materials, Minister Paulwell stated that a sorrel-based product line, which has triggered the development of a sorrel industry has promising economic potential.
"Where are the takers?" he asked his audience.
The symposium which was strongly supported by the business sector, including representatives from the financial sector, was aimed at searching for ways in which discoveries in science and technology can be made more relevant to industry and commerce. It received the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which facilitated the participation of US-based Professors Henry Riggs and T. Gregory Dewey of Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences Claremont Colleges, California, and Isaac Maya, Director, Industry and Technology Programmes, University of Southern California, Professor Trevor Campbell of Pomona College, California and Mr. Reginal Nugent, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation of the College of Business, California Polytechnic State University at Ponoma, USA.
