Jamaica Installs New Gamma Irradiator To Help Protect Blue Mountain Coffee And Combat Crop Threats – CoffeeTalk

Jamaica has installed a new gamma irradiator at the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Science (ICENS), a research facility of the University of the West Indies, to address threats to crop yields and public health in the country. The mutation breeding programme aims to induce beneficial traits that can help overcome key production constraints, such as resistance to fungi and bacteria, reduced maturation time, and improved insect resistance.

The irradiator has multiple benefits, including being used to develop new varieties of ginger, yam, and sweet potato, staple crops that contribute to food security in Jamaica and are key national exports. In the short term, the facility will be integral to efforts in crop improvement and integrated vector management for insect pests. In the medium to long term, the multi-purpose irradiator will also be utilized for the shelf-life extension of seasonal crops and in the health sector, arrangements will be made with the University Hospital of the West Indies to start sterilizing medical equipment and assist with research on improving skin graft technologies.

Industrial irradiators can expose any product or piece of equipment to radiation, with applications across a diverse range of disciplines, industries, and research areas, including food preservation, medical device sterilization, materials modification, and cultural heritage. Before its installation, the IAEA led a series of national projects to build capacity in plant tissue culturing and screening, which would benefit from the irradiator.

Nuclear technology is also helping Jamaica combat another growing threat to its economy and public health – insects. Jamaican crops are dogged by the West Indian fruit fly, a major pest of soft fruits like mangoes, plums, and apples. Meanwhile, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, carrier of the notorious Chikungunya virus, is a drain on public health, affecting nearly half of the employed persons in the country. Under an ongoing technical cooperation project, Jamaica is strengthening its capacities in mosquito mass-rearing and irradiation procedures to validate the sterile insect technique (SIT) as an efficient means of controlling disease-transmitting mosquitoes.

Jamaica has worked closely with the IAEA since the signature of its first Country Programme Framework in 2010, laying the legislative and regulatory groundwork for the safe application of nuclear techniques to support its development goals. Over the last 15 years, Jamaican experts have received extensive training in radiation transport and waste safety, and other national counterparts have attended IAEA workshops to draft regulations governing the use of nuclear technology. Going forward, the country is striving to ramp up its engagement with nuclear applications, including the sterile insect technique, mutation plant breeding, and non-destructive testing. The new multi-purpose gamma irradiator will help boost these efforts.

Read More @ IAEA