ST. CROIX — The University of the Virgin Islands reopened two hurricane-damaged research facilities at the Albert A. Sheen Campus with separate ribbon-cutting ceremonies held today for the aquaponics program and sheep farm.
As part of the Agricultural Experiment Station in the School of Agriculture, both research facilities have access to local and federal funding because UVI is a land-grant university.
“Our whole work is centered around teaching, research and extension,” Usman Adamu, UVI School of Agriculture dean and director, said.
The university’s aquaponics program has not been operational since Hurricanes Irma and Maria damaged the facility in September 2017, Adamu said. He said the rebuilt facility speaks to UVI’s commitment to agriculture and agriculture research as a land-grant institution.
“Having this facility back in operation means that full research work will resume at the Agricultural Experiment Station in aquaponics, an area that really put UVI on a global map,” he said.
Adamu said UVI’s work and expertise in aquaponics has given the university worldwide recognition.
“We have a variety of channels that our research information is being shared,” he said, noting UVI shares its research information through scholarly publications, presentations at national conventions, newsletters, and its website.
Nereida Washington, UVI interim vice president for Finance and Administration and chief financial officer, said the $600,000 renovation project that was primarily funded with disaster recovery funds started in March 2022 and got completed in October 2023.
“Here, some of the things that are really, really crucial to our economy, to our community is the raising of fish in tanks,” Washington said. “And not only are you raising them in tanks, but you’re also using the water as a natural fertilizer for the agricultural plants.”
Washington said UVI decided to hold ribbon-cutting ceremonies for both the aquaponics facility and the sheep farm on the same day, noting both projects were completed by Mence Construction. Representatives from the construction company were among those in attendance, including owner Reynold Phillip.
Adrienne Williams-Octalien, Office of Disaster Recovery director, discussed ODR’s mission to build a resilient Virgin Islands.
“It’s not to finish projects, it is not to process money, it is to use these funds to build a resilient Virgin Islands, and that’s what this project represents today,” she said during the ceremony for the aquaponics facility.
Henry Awika, UVI School of Agriculture interim assistant director and research assistant professor, said the aquaponics facility was designed to benefit agriculture students.
“In essence it will be a very important teaching facility beginning in the next three or four months,” he said, noting UVI now has the funding laid out to make the facility operational.
Awika, while giving attendees a tour of one of the six aquaponics stations at the facility after the ribbon cutting, said 600 tilapia will be placed in the tanks. Each station has two tanks. He said the wastewater from the tanks will be used to grow a variety of crops, including kale, lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes.
While the hurricane-damaged aquaponics facility got renovated with six new stations, the sheep farm, officially known as the small ruminant livestock facility, was completely rebuilt, and relocated closer to campus on the southeast end.
Sue Lakos, UVI School of Agriculture animal science research analyst, said the university prides itself on the fact it has sheep from two different breeds — the St. Croix white hair sheep that was developed on island to meet the needs of local farmers, and a crossbreed developed by breeding the St. Croix white hair with the dorper sheep from South Africa. She said both are hair sheep, noting they don’t produce wool.
Although the St. Croix white hair sheep was developed prior to UVI’s existence, Lakos said the university has helped build the breed to the point where it has been shipped to the U.S. mainland and as far away as the Philippines.
Lakos, who said there are now 206 sheep on the farm, stressed that the sheep are used for research.
“The projects we choose to do are projects that are gonna focus on known problems or known needs of the local farmers,” she said. “And so, what we’re doing with these sheep is we are testing things like fertility and heat resistance and maternal instincts and parasite resistance so that our results, when they’re analyzed and everything, we can provide that data to the local farmers so that they can use it to improve their flocks, and since this breed is also stateside, to help enhance this breed as well as for the stateside farmers.”
The knowledge gained from the sheep research will benefit local farmers, Lakos said.
“We have a lot of sheep farmers on St. Croix,” she said. “We have a booming market for sheep meat on St. Croix. We sell animals to the public both for breeding and for meat when we have them.”
Attendees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony got to sample meat from a butchered lamb, or baby sheep. To purchase sheep for breeding or to slaughter for meat, individuals can call Lakos at 340-692-4032.
