Alex Sybron's career has taken him from playing one of Jamaica's most popular sports to working on improving the quality and sustainability of one of its hottest export commodities. Alex, now 33, was well on his way to a professional cricket career until he discovered research in agricultural science and transitioned from being an all-rounder on the cricket field to a multi-skilled technician in the agriculture field.
"My mother said that if I had a major injury, my career could possibly be over, and I should focus more on my education. I was always good at Biology, so I pursued it further. And then I realized that I had a great interest in plants."
That interest has propelled him to become the Chief Plant Breeding Officer and Acting Senior Research Director of the Crop Research Unit at the Government's Bodles Research Station. Working closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Alex and his young colleagues have the mammoth task of ensuring the availability of disease- and pest-free seeds.
Alex Sybron once planned to become a professional cricketer, but now he's a key figure in the Bodle Research Station, working to provide reliable, high-yielding seeds, which help to improve the quality of Jamaica's peppers and farmers' livelihoods. ©Javawney Crooks
"It is important for farmers to begin growing with the best planting material. This gives you an advantage to increase the crop's productivity." While these practices won't keep pests away altogether, when pests only attack crops after being planted, there are more options to combat the infestations.
A key mission of the research station is to produce certified foundation seeds for one of Jamaica's prime local and international export commodities—hot peppers. Jamaican hot peppers are world-renowned for their heat ratings and flavor profile. Jamaica currently ranks about halfway up the list of the world's top hot pepper-producing countries, with tonnage having increased rapidly over recent years despite Hurricane Beryl, which hit the country in July 2024.
However, production challenges and declining quality have been affecting the demand and competitiveness of this signature produce.
"The seed industry in Jamaica is currently highly unregulated. This creates the opportunity for anyone to save seeds, which may be of low quality, and introduce them into the seed distribution system," Alex explains. This can impact both yield and quality, as can planting peppers too close together. This practice increases humidity and reduces airflow, creating favorable conditions for fungal and bacterial diseases.
Implementing best practices has been an important focus of the training sessions conducted by the FAO for Jamaican farmers like Megan White. She's been growing peppers for two decades but still acquired useful new knowledge on how to plant them, how far apart to space them, and how to treat various types of plant diseases.
Then there are increasingly frequent and extreme climate events like Hurricane Beryl which, according to the island's farmers, wiped out up to 90 percent of their hot pepper production.
"Since Beryl, it [production] has been very, very low and really challenging because of the weather," says Megan. However, she also says that using the new techniques she's acquired, she's still harvesting three or four times more peppers per tree than before.
"We are living the reality of climate change. Plant breeding and plant adaptation means selecting those crops with resilient traits such as drought tolerance, heat tolerance, salt tolerance etc," says Alex. "The varieties selected or bred with these traits will give an advantage to the farmer in terms of production, productivity and maintenance cost."
© ©FAO
Perhaps the common thread linking back to Alex's cricketing days is teamwork. He views his group's role as being "the pioneers in terms of providing solutions to these agricultural problems." Through their collaboration with the FAO, Alex and his colleagues hope to navigate numerous challenges to meet the national target of over 1,440 acres of high-quality hot peppers.
To achieve that objective, the FAO project on Improving Phytosanitary, Food Safety, and Market Access Opportunities is working with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining to develop and implement a clean seed certification program for pepper production.
Alex believes this would be a game-changer, ensuring consistent seed quality and genetic purity, providing farmers with reliable, high-yielding seeds. It would also enhance agricultural productivity and boost farm profitability and export potential.
The project, supported by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute and funded by the Standards and Trade Development Facility, will supply a gravity separator, seed extractor, and hot water bath treatment to replace the manual cleaning currently done by eight people. The faster, more efficient machinery will ensure greater genetic purity and increased throughput. It will also enhance international compliance, benefiting everyone in the value chain, including seed producers, farmers, agro-processors, and exporters.
With the FAO and other partners on their side, former cricketer turned agricultural technician Alex and farmers like Megan will be able to up their game, ensuring both the improved quality of Jamaican peppers and more stable and resilient livelihoods in the future.