‘Wheat Harvest Ceremony at Petit Merlot’

 

 

 

It is an honour and privilege to participate in the wheat harvest ceremony, wheat that  been produced on an experimental basis for the first time at Petit Merlot. I would like to express my thanks to the Dairy Farm Cooperative Society Ltd of Petit Merlot for having kindly accepted to allocate some 3 acres of land for the purpose. Wheat (Triticumaestivum) is among the three top-most produced cereal worldwide, together with maize and rice. In 2012 global annual production of wheat amounted to about 650-700 million tons. Mauritius is highly dependent on food imports and is currently importing 80% of its food requirements; wheat imports amount to around 170000 tonnes annually. STC supplies the local market with about 100 000 tonnes of flour yearly. At 225 grams per capita, Wheat Flour remains the main staple food other than rice. Many thanks to Universal Development Corporation, especially Mr Philippe Levieux for having kindly accepted to share their storage facilities for the seeds and their support.To all those who have kindly  provided  consumables to be used in the experiment : Pherrich Ltd for supply of compost and Matikola Ltd for sharing consumables. Thanking Mr Benoit Francisque from DCF Roots Ltd who is already making cereals and other products from manioc and who kindly accepted to process the wheat grains from last year into flour and Bread. I hope that this fruitful collaboration among all these stakeholders continues and that next year we will be able to see some of the potential applications.