University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff employees shared technologies and tools with people Thursday during Agriculture Field Day, all with an eye toward improving crops and their marketability.
Obadiah Njue is chairman/interim director of regulatory science in the UAPB Agriculture Department. He said UAPB has farms in Pine Bluff and in Lonoke. The purpose of Agriculture Field Day is to help farmers to use practices to improve their livelihood.
“The agriculture field day alternates between Pine Bluff and Lonoke,” Njue said. “At UAPB our field day focuses more on the research and demonstration work.”
Njue said UAPB employees work with government agencies, farmers and students. Njue said they teach about field crops, cowpeas, rice, livestock, value-added laboratories and greenhouses.
“A farmer can use a sweet potato that he is not able to sell and get more money by converting it into sweet potato chips and sweet potato fries,” Njue said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB professor Muthusamy Manoharan is an interim assistant dean for the 1890 Programs in the UAPB School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Science. He discussed methods of eliminating viruses in plants.
“This is one of our programs. We started with the goal of producing virus-free plants,” Manoharan said. “If the yield is reduced, the farmer does not make a profit.”
Jaheon Koo is an associate professor in regulatory science. He discussed machines that are used in the value-added laboratories.
“You add value to row crops and then farmers make more profit,” Koo said. “Instead of selling row crops, they do a little bit of processing because it will preserve longer than working with row crops. … UAPB wants to transfer technology to them so they can try out their new recipes.”
Department of Agriculture Extension Associate Joseph Ivy discussed hoop houses. They allow people to grow plants in cold weather.
“You start early in a hoop house so you get to the market earlier,” Ivy said. “We use it for training of people in 4H clubs. We are focused on the farmers.”
Extension Specialist Shaun Francis said the hoop houses “afford a more controlled environment. You manage your entry and exit. You can have a fairly decent control of tests.”
The hoop houses also enable people to control pests and offer an organic operation, Francis said.