The government is preparing to launch a tissue culture laboratory aimed at revitalising the Antigua black pineapple industry and boosting local agricultural production, Agriculture Minister Anthony Smith Jr. said.

Smith said the facility will allow Antigua and Barbuda to produce disease-free planting material locally, reducing reliance on overseas labs and accelerating expansion of the crop.

“One of our challenges… is we didn’t have our own tissue culture lab here,” he said, noting that planting material previously had to be sent abroad for propagation.

The new lab is expected to support a significant increase in pineapple production, with tens of thousands of plants already in circulation.

“We would have started with our first batch of 15,000… and our aim is to bring in 100,000 from that tissue culture lab,” Smith said.

He added that additional shipments are already on the way, with long-term plans to scale production even further.

“We actually have another 15,000 on the way… we want to plant up until we get to about just about 200,000,” he said.

The facility, which was initially expected to open earlier, has been slightly delayed but is now close to completion.

“We were supposed to open it this month, but we would have postponed the launch till next month,” Smith said.

Smith described the lab as a major step forward for the sector, linking science and agriculture to improve crop quality and output.

“It’s where science meets agriculture… and I think that is extremely important,” he said.

While the Antigua black pineapple has export potential, the minister said priority will be given to meeting domestic demand as the country works to reduce food imports and strengthen food security.