TAIWAN Technical Mission in Saint Lucia in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture held the Greenhouse Tomato Production Workshop at Union on May 23th, 2018. More than 54 local farmers and extension officers attended the event.
At the event, Mr. Tim Shiao, Taiwan expert, taught local farmers the know-how in greenhouse farming, including skilful pruning, disease and pest controlling. He explained that greenhouse management needs more techniques than outdoor crops; especially the higher humidity, temperature and lush green foliage create conditions that enable certain diseases and insects to thrive. Farmers have to focus more on house ventilation management and pest controlling.
Mr. Mario Cheng, head of Taiwan Technical Mission in Saint Lucia encouraged local farmers commencing greenhouse tomato business and emphasised that tomato is easy to grow and more profitable than other greenhouse crops. He also noted that greenhouse planting can extend the production period and increase farmer’s net income.
The Greenhouse Tomato Production Workshop is part of the on-going Fruit and Vegetable Demonstration and Extension Project jointly undertaken by Taiwan and Saint Lucia. To date, the Project had implemented 600 field technical advisory services, provided 20,000 seedlings, and trained over 2,000 farmers, steadily fulfilling goal of improving local farmers’ competitiveness and revenue. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.