National Seed Bank

The Chaguaramas Agricultural Development Project (CADP) was established in 1971 by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with the Federal Republic of West Germany on approximately 200 ha of land in Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas. The main programme at CADP concentrated on commercial production of true seed, particularly of vegetables, bodi, hot pepper, sorrel, pumpkin, pigeon pea, ochro, melongene and corn. CADP has the responsibility of catering to an ever increasing demand for these seeds from the farming public. This facility reduces the nation’s dependency on expensive imported seed.

The Seed Unit at Chaguaramas was relocated to the El Carmen Station when the Mega Farm began utilizing the site in June 2009. In 2011, due to the closure of the Mega Farm project, Cabinet by Minute 3289 of December 15, 2011, approved the lease of approximately 100 acres of land at Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas for the production of true commercial seeds for the local farming community and for research activity of non-traditional crops. In 2020, CADP was officially renamed the National Seed Bank under the Agricultural Services Division. Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries

The major activities at the National Seed Bank include:

Production of high quality seed material – corn, pigeon pea, bodi, sorrel, pumpkin, ochro, melongene, hot pepper and other local vegetables
Production of root crop planting material – cassava, sweet potato
Preservation/conservation of key vegetable seeds under cold storage conditions
Conservation of root crop germplasm.
Provision of seed material for Disaster Mitigation both locally and regionally