Wayne Ganpat

Dr Ganpat started his career as an agricultural officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Trinidad and Tobago over 30 years ago. He joined The UWI in 2010 as Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension and in 2015 was appointed as Head of that Department.

Over the next four years, Dr Ganpat will use his expertise in “Extension” – particularly his communications and outreach skills – to attract students back to agriculture and agri-enterprise; and raise the profile of the Faculty of Food andAgriculture as the treasury for agricultural learning, research and technology, in the region. “We have to encourage agriculture students to think outside the box, to invent the systems that make agriculture and food production, an art, a joy, and a business. We need to do this with the current students, even as we expand the enrolment in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as from the region and internationally.”

A primary goal is to re-establish the once vibrant presence of the Faculty in the region; working to help governments and food producers solve their many problems and repositioning the FFA at St Augustine as the agricultural centre for the region.

Dr Ganpat hopes to build on the work started by the retiring Dean Dr Isaac Bekele in seeking to harmonize the several agriculture programmes across the region. One of his objectives is to communicate research findings and development efforts to bring about higher levels of food and nutrition security more widely to stakeholders, and to do this by inspiring a new generation of agro-entrepreneurs.

(Source: UWI Today, Sunday 3rd July 2016)