April 5th, 2017 -- Pesticides are widely used in food and agricultural production. These pesticides may remain in small amounts called residues in or on fruits, vegetables and crops. The Rapid Bioassay of Pesticide Residues (RBPR) laboratory which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture and International Cooperation and Development Fund (Taiwan) conducts tests on agricultural products in St Kitts and Nevis to ensure that they are free of hazardous pesticides and safe for human consumption.
The RBPR in St. Kitts and Nevis is known to be the first RBPR lab in the OECS. To date, the lab has collected and tested close to 4000 samples of vegetables and fruits for both insecticides (AChE) and Fungicides (Bt). The good news is that the results so far generally show approximate 98% pass rate. However, there are a few samples that have failed the pesticide residues test. This raises some concern and requires the need to continue monitor, expand and increase sample population, size and number in order to get a clearer picture of test results.
With kind compliments of the Ministry of Agriculture and ICDF(Taiwan), the RBPR laboratory has been providing free services for pesticide residues test of vegetables fruits and crops for local farmers and vendors. However, many farmers and members of the public have not given adequate support to this generous initiative. Nevertheless we are pleased to announce that some farmers have been supporting the project by providing samples for testing.
These local farmers and vendors includes Ms. Fleurette Williams, Mrs. Ernestine Brandy, Ms. Shelly Haynes, Mr. Kurt Burt, Ms. Velma Caesar, Mr. John Percival, and Mr. Kiethly Armstrong. Their products have passed the pesticides residue test and could easily be identified in the markets by those vendors that have the RBPR marked board and stickers. We commend these local farmers and vendors for providing their samples for testing and producing and selling quality and pesticide safe agricultural products to consumers.
The VFUCQSIP project has continues to sensitize the farmers and the members of the public on pesticide safe agricultural products every Monday in the local public market in Basseterre. Two workshops have also been conducted this year, one was held in the project’s office in Needmust and the other at the Tabernacle Outreach center. The project wants to create more awareness of Pesticide safe agricultural products.
Farmers, Vendors, supermarkets and all who buy and sell local agricultural products are encouraged to support the lab project’s effort. At the end there is nothing to lose, but they just have to ensure that their local agricultural products are pesticides safe and enjoy the marketing competitive advantage it presents.
To learn more about the V.F.U.C.Q.S.I.P project please contact Shih-Lung Cheng (Mario) at 4652372 or email: c.s.lung@icdf.org.tw, OR Augustine Nwosu at 4652372 or email: austinenwosu@gmail.com
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