Creating A New Opportunity From An Invasive Challenge

Plant & Food Research is pleased to announce the signing of a commercial agreement with Caribbean Chemicals Ltd, headquartered in Trinidad - the largest ag-chemical company in the Caribbean region.

Founded in the 1960s, Caribbean Chemicals operates in 26 countries across the Caribbean and Central American regions with over 80 trained agronomists who service local farmers across the region.

A five-year collaboration between New Zealand and Caribbean scientists has developed a biostimulant – a liquid that can be used by farmers to enhance the health and yield of their crops – from Sargassum seaweed. Sargassum seaweed has been causing negative impacts on the coastal ecosystem due to massive influxes over the past decade.

The next phase of the project will see scientists at Plant & Food Research and Caribbean Chemicals working together to determine whether the new biostimulant product can be reliably produced at commercial scale. Plant & Food Research will produce the liquid biostimulant in Caribbean Chemicals’ manufacturing plant in Jamaica and test the efficacy of larger scale production, as a first step in commercialising the product.

Caribbean Chemicals recognises the potential in a new locally sourced biostimulant and are excited to be working with Plant & Food Research on the next phase of the project. Caribbean Chemicals’ Managing Director, Joe Pires says “Sargassum is a major problem in the Caribbean and there is considerable cost involved in removing it from beaches and harbours. Developing a new product that can offset these costs, support industrial expansion with new jobs, and offer farmers a locally produced fertiliser option is a win-win for everyone.”

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Private Sector Organisation (CPSO), CEO and Technical Director, Dr Patrick Antoine, who in collaboration with the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) facilitated the introduction between Plant & Food Research and Caribbean Chemicals says, “the collaboration demonstrates the efficacy, in a multi-stakeholder model, of applying knowledge-based services in research and development, management, agriculture technology, etc, to development problems (Sargassum), turning them into opportunities for new innovative product solutions and for added services ('servitization') with benefits to farmers, manufacturers and in this particular instance, the CARICOM tourism and hospitality sectors and the GDP of Member States."

The Sargassum biostimulant has been developed through a five-year New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) funded programme led by Plant &Food Research in collaboration with the inter-governmental organisation CRFM and with the University of West Indies, the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute and the Jamaica National Fisheries Agency.

Increased nutrients in the ocean and warming water temperatures have encouraged extreme growth of Sargassum in the sub-tropical waters of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions. Large Sargassum influxes cause major harm to the nearshore marine environment, with large coastal deposits negatively impacting human and environmental health as well as tourism and fishing and considerable costs are associated with removing it from the environment. As well as creating new jobs and supporting environmental sustainability, production of the new biostimulant in the Caribbean Chemicals’ Jamaica facility will reduce foreign exchange costs associated with importing fertiliser products to the region. Agriculture is an important sector in the Caribbean, with more than 50% of the rural population engaged in farming activities and the price of fertiliser having more than doubled in recent years t due to global supply pressures.

Mr. Milton Haughton, the recently retired Executive Director of CRFM, says that “Sargassum also presents an opportunity for sustainable blue economic growth in the context of marine algae use and diversification.”

Through the project, the biostimulant prototype has been developed at lab-scale and field tested on several crops – including cucumber, sweet pepper and corn – on farms in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. As well as determining whether commercial-scale production is viable at its formulation plant in Jamaica, Caribbean Chemicals, which has more than 200 staff across 26 countries in the Caribbean region, will work with Plant & Food Research scientists to test the efficacy of the commercial prototype in the field. If successful, the biostimulant can move into commercial production with results of the trials shared with farmers across the Caribbean through Caribbean Chemicals’ network of agronomists.

“This project is an example of how scientists from New Zealand are using their experience to support development overseas,” says Dr Suzie Newman, head of the International Development Unit at Plant & Food Research. “Using our scientists’ expertise in product formulation and agronomic trials, we’ve worked with local scientists and experts to develop and test the formulation in the field. We’re excited about the possible opportunities for the region’s economic and environmental sustainability.”

The seaweed grows in subtropical regions in the Atlantic Ocean – in the Caribbean, Mexico and southern Florida; and in the Indo-Pacific Ocean region – from northern Japan to the Philippines; and developing methods for sustainable use of the seaweed in these areas is a key target for research.

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