May 23, 2011 No. 17/11-BD CARDI TO GET CDB SUPPORT FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a grant up to the equivalent of USD 285,000 to the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI). The grant is to support CARDI in conducting research into the problems that limit the production of vegetables under protected agriculture systems in the Caribbean. The term ‘protected agriculture systems' has replaced ‘greenhouse', since most of the systems currently in use in the Caribbean do not conform to the classical definition of greenhouses. This research will be undertaken in two countries - Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia. These countries have been selected because they provide the range of agro-ecological zones in which protected agriculture systems are used in the Caribbean. There will be five components to the project: - Component one: monitoring of biotic and abiotic factors, production practices and yield in commonly used protected structures.- Component two: identification and evaluation of ‘best practice' for the management of crops under protected structures.- Component three: development of technical packages for the management of vegetables under protected structures- Component four: the conduct of two ‘training of trainers' workshops, and - Component five: dissemination of information. CARDI will execute the project, and it will be implemented by a multi-disciplinary team drawn from the staff of CARDI and the University of the West Indies.