Agriculture officials are preparing to scale up domestic food production with plans to expand upland rice cultivation to ten acres at the Pine Basin, following the successful completion of the third phase of a China-Barbados agricultural project that officials said could reduce reliance on imported staples.

The announcement was made during the “Golden Sickle” shared food security harvest ceremony, marking the successful completion of the hybrid upland rice demonstration project under the China-Barbados Agricultural Cooperation programme.

The initiative, a joint venture between the ministry, the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), and China’s Hunan Lingshi Agricultural Service Company Limited, is being promoted as a major step forward in the island’s self-sufficiency drive