The Plant Genetic Resources Development Section is responsible for the collection and conservation in field genebanks of Plant Genetic Resources for food and agriculture excluding vegetables.

The section is based at Grand Anse, Mahe and has about 8 hectares under permanent crops such as mangoes, citrus, avocado and other minor fruits. Other areas are dedicated to rootcrops, bananas, pawpaw and pineapples.

The Section also has an outreach programme with various plantations at the Anse Boileau Research Station, The Farmers Training Centre (FTC) at Anse a La Mouche and also at Barbarons (ex army camp).

The Section endeavours to maintain healthy plantations and orchards with the view of providing quality planting material to food producers. This is achieved by selecting healthy budwood for grafting and the selection of promising varieties through evaluations and trials.

The Section fulfills its mandate through various programmes and units.

THE FRUIT PLANT NURSERY UNIT

The Plant Nursery endeavours to make available to farmers and the general public quality fruit trees and other planting materials.

This Unit is headed by Nursery Supervisor, Wilven Payet and he is assisted by 3 Field Assistants namely Mr. John Rigodon, Mr. Michel Landry and Mr. Gerald Labrosse.

Total plants sales for 1998 (January - December) was 18017 plant units. This is a 26% increase over sales in 1997 but still 20% below 1996 sales level.

Sale of grafted and other plants over the years have been affected by various factors.

The prolonged drought of mid 1998 reduced water reserves in the Grand Anse river catchment. The Nursery therefore experienced a set back especially in the establishment of rootstock seedlings.

Farmers and the general public also shyed away form buying fruit trees as the drought progressed well into October 1998.

Citrus sales were 1708 plant units including orange, bigarade, pomello, lemon, lime, grapefruit etc. This represents 10% of total plant sales.

Grafted eggplants (aubergines) sales were 33% of total plant sales with pawpaw plants at 23% and banana suckers (Gabou and St. Jacques) at 8%.

The outstanding 26% is made up of sales of minor fruits such as chiku, custard apple, corrosol etc.

Avocado sales stood at only 0.5% (83 plant units) of total plant sales.

Presently during the "Avocado season", that is February to April there is usually a glut on the market and farmers are reluctant to buy plants, as reflected in the sales figure. It is important therefore to select varieties that flower and bear fruit outside of the main bearing season. The Plant Genetic Resources Development Section has in its field genebanks collections of avocados such as Hass and Lula which may extend the bearing season but unfortunately these varieties are not much appreciated by the general public.

Total revenue for 1998 through fruit plant sales at the Nursery was SR212374.

Grafted eggplant accounted for 33% or SR70083 and pawpaw for 23% or SR48846.

Potential sales of pawpaw and lime however could have been much higher but due to a lack of seeds and diseases production is sometimes hindered.

A total of 21 field visits were carried out during the year, mainly for prunning and top working. One visit was effected to Praslin and La Digue islands.

Grafting success is in the range of 87% and grafted tomato and eggplant is at 100%.

The Nursery continues to offer a range of plants but some are available only on order and others are available throughout the year.

The Plant Genetic Resources Development Section is actively promoting what is termed "Edible Landscape" that is encouraging the use of fruit trees in a landscape design rather than having a purely decorative garden.

The Section will budget for the Nursery to broaden the range of plants on offer by next year.

The demand for potted chilly plants, grafted tomato and flowering shrubs needs to be

addressed and the Nursery will expand in order to accommodate a bigger volume of plants.

It is envisaged to increase sales by 25% bringing a projected revenue of SR265467.
 

COCONUT REHABILITATION UNIT

The Unit is headed by Mr. Norbert Roucou with the assistance of ex-melitoma workers.

The area planted with coconuts at Val des Près was earmarked for other activities and therefore in 1998 no maintenance activities to the plantation were carried out.

The close planting technique has been used at Barbarons for palmiste (palm heart) production. In 1998 the section sold 49 palmistes giving a revenue of SR 1715.

However about the same amount were given free of charge during the festive season and it is estimated that over 100 palmistes have been stolen over the year.

By providing cheap palmiste alternatives is seen as reducing the negative impact poachers have when they destroy the endemic palms (Dekenia nobilis) in order to satisfy demand from hotels for palmiste.

The Plant Genetic Resources Development Section will seek to work in liaison with departments of other concerned ministries in order to expand areas under coconuts for palmiste production with the view of reducing poaching activities of endemic palms.

A total of 30 coconut seedlings were sold in 1998 for a value of SR 650. These were however the Malaysian Dwarf, (coco rouge) used mostly for landscaping activities.

Mr. Keven Nancy, Agricultural Officer, attended a 2 week course on Biotechnology in the

improvement of coconut at the Mikocheni Agricultural Institute, Tanzania in August 1998.

TROPICAL FRUITS PROGRAMME

The guava collection at Beolière was earmarked for housing development which meant a loss of certain varieties. (see list of varieties in field genebanks; appendix 1)

A total of 1351 banana suckers of mostly dwarf Carvendish and Plantain were sold giving a revenue of SR 13510.

There was a steady demand throughout the year for banana planting material and efforts made in 1997 to increase acrearage under banana meant that the nursery was not hardpressed to meet demand.

The "Grand Nain" variety imported as In Vitro Culture from The International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP)was field planted in 1998 for evaluation trials. It is however not doing too well in the sandy plateau.

Area under star fruit (carambola) has been increased in order to make full use of marginal lands on the research farm.

Over 1000 pineapple slips (smooth cayenne) were planted at Grand Anse in order to have enough planting material to meet demand for pineapple. Over 300 suckers were sourced from Port Glaud and planted at Barbarons (Ex Army Camp).

It is worth noting here that over 2 acres of land at Barbarons were made available by The Seychelles Peoples Defence Forces (SPDF) to the Plant Genetic Resources Development Section so that proper evaluations could be carried. Grand Anse unfortunately is plagued by praedial larceny making it almost impossible and utterly discouraging to carry out trials.

165 Kg of Star fruit (SR 825) were sold in 1998 with 225 Kg of Jamalac (SR 1125).

Only 10 Kg of bananas and no pawpaws were sold in 1998. This clearly shows the level of theft and its impact on potential revenue through sales of farm produce.

The Section stands to make around SR 75,000 - SR 100,000 through sales of fresh bananas per year at SR 100 a bunch. Revenue from limes is almost non existent, as lime plantations which were at one time under SMB are now apparently part of the Grand Anse land bank.

TROPICAL ROOTCROP & LEGUME PROGRAMME

This programme is now headed by Mr. Lewis Julie replacing the late Alain Vinda.

Sale of rootcrops in 1998

Cassava - 100 Kg (SR 500)

Sweet potato - 592 Kg @ SR 5 = SR 2960

2293 Kg @ SR 10 = SR 22930

The retail price for sweet potato was increased from SR 5/ Kg - SR 10/ Kg around the middle of the year. In fact most of the sweet potatoes are sold in bulk to SMB and they offered to pay SR 10/ Kg.

New Varieties

In August 1998 the Section imported from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria, new varieties of cassava and yam.

A total of 1000 In Vitro plantlets were received; 50 cassava genotypes and 30 yam genotypes.

Only 43 varieties of cassava were successfully transplanted from In Vitro stage to the field and only 5 varieties of yam.

Only 1 variety of yam (Tda 85/00247) is performing well under local conditions, the other four are struggling.

Twelve (12) new varieties of sweet potato vine cuttings were imported from the International Potato Centre (C.I.P), Kenya in March 1998.

These varieties were bulked up in the Nursery and various evaluations were carried out throughout the year (Table 3).
 

Yam plantlets were planted at Barbarons, Ex Army Camp. These will be used to bulk up planting material of these following yam varieties; Binungas, Gemelos, Gunung, Purmay and Tanilla vula leka.

A total of 430 Kg of "Chinese Yam" were harvested for planting material, namely Seti, Muni, Doli and Florido.

About 9000 sweet potato vines were distributed to sweet potato farmers during the year. These were mainly the SPV 4 variety and later in the year introduced varieties like Cari 9 etc. were given to farmers for on farm trials.

Trials with the 10 new varieties of dual purpose cowpea progressed well throughout 1998 with periodic evaluations for yield and total biomass.

A dual purpose variety, IT 89 KD 288 for example yielded 3.8 tonnes/ ha of unshelled dry pods with a total biomass yield (leaves, stalks and roots) of 52.4 tonnes/ ha(fresh weight) or 8.40 tonnes/ ha (dry weight), 3 months after planting.

Nodulation was however minimal and a packet of bean innoculum was imported from the Rhizobium Ecology Network of Eastern & Southern Africa (RENEASA) for trials.

Next year the section will intensify its efforts to collect local landraces of cassava and sweet potato. Many varieties have been imported but locally there are many promising varieties which if selected and bulked up can contribute to the germplasm bank of high yielding adaptable varieties.

SOIL DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY

The Soil Diagnostic laboratory provides a back up technical facility for both farmers and the public who wish to have a soil test and also provides invaluable data on plant nutrient availability as well as essential information for any research project.

The Laboratory is staffed by Research Officer Keven Nancy assisted by Lina Gabriel. A total of 193 soil samples from farmers were analysed, plus another samples from MAMR research farms.

Fifteen (15) water samples were analysed for salinity and conductivity, and ten (10) organic matter samples for mushroom cultivation.

Twenty five (25) farmers from various agricultural regions were visited on Mahé as part of a joint field visit programme with extension staff every Wednesday.

Twenty two (22) farmers, registered with the Praslin Farmers’ Association, were visited on Praslin over a two day period. This was effected in collaboration with the Extension Service and Praslin Farmer’s Association.

A number of site visits were carried out for soil sampling with Commonwealth Fund for Technical Corporation (CFTC) engineer, Mr. D. Barker in order to assess fertility of unstable roadside embankments.

Miss Lina Gabriel is expected to proceed to Egypt in 1999 for a 3 month Course in Laboratory techniques and Mr. Nancy to Malaysia.

Two project proposals were submitted for funding:

1) Improvement to Soil & Plant Analysis Laboratory to enhance services for

2. In Vitro Culture Laboratory for which £ 47,000 has been approved by the

CONCLUSION

The Section, due to its history and location, is seen as the focal point of most agricultural research activities. It employs over 50 workers and most other sections of the Ministry have personnel based at Grand Anse. Other Ministries and organisations sometimes place an undue strain on the Section to provide, free of charge, plants, farm produce and even workers so that their own targets are met.

There is a need to define accurately the mandate of the Section so that targets set are attained with ease. Nevertheless there is also a need to be flexible in order to accommodate requests, especially from other Sections so that the Ministry moves forward as one.

The Section has lost vast tracts of agricultural land to more urgent and pressing needs. Over 10 hectares has been relegated to housing projects etc over the years.

This has meant a net loss of certain varieties and as a result the section has been unable to provide a diverse range of plants as before.

Certain varieties such as the Jaboticaba has been lost completely and a number of local plant accessions have also disappeared from the collections.

The Section however is periodically importing new varieties from overseas agricultural experimental stations with the view of providing farmers with high yielding varieties of tropical fruits and rootcrops adaptable to our conditions.

The CRD is responsible for the promotion and evaluation of tropical fruit and rootcrop varieties, and the eventual distribution of quality planting materials, through its plant nursery based at Grand Anse Mahe. Farmers and the general public also make use of the Soil & Plant Diagnostic Laboratory. The section is divided according to programs:
 

The Tropical Fruit Program

This program maintains germplasm of various tropical fruits in field genebanks. From the large orchards of mango, avocado and guava, selected varieties are collected in the form of budwood for grafting on selected rootstocks for eventual sale to farmers and the public.