Dominica’s agricultural woes

Witnell Louis, a 79-year-old Dominican farmer of medium built and strong hands, spent all his life farming. His wrinkled face tells many stories of years spent toiling the land. Louis still manages his 29 acres of land filled with varieties of citrus, dasheen, cocoa, cane, among others. He has one of the largest farms in Syndicate—in Dominica’s Northern Forest Reserve—which he owned since 1979, and employs six workers. Some of the participants at the week-long agricultural workshop visited some of Dominica’s larger farms to learn more about farmers’ woes.

Farmer Witnell Louis has a peculiar problem: Dominica’s national bird, sisserou parrot (Amazona imperialis), has been eating away at his fruits. Prohibited from either catching or killing the protected species, Louis said he is fed up. He’s been dealing with the birds attacking his produce since 1982. The birds are plentiful in the traditional farming district of Syndicate. He claimed that he is not compensated by the Dominican government for his losses: half of his production. In Dominica, he said, farmers have been lobbying for an adequate agriculture policy, for the Dominican government to organise and structure the industry where they can access more markets.

Just about five minutes away is 72-year-old Ruby Joyce, who has more than 200 citrus trees, namely grapefruit and orange, and root crops: dasheen, yam and tania. Joyce said her production and labour are low. “It’s just my husband, a couple workers and myself.” Her average weekly production is 900 grafted oranges. Joyce, who has been in farming since she was a little child, finds it difficult to persuade any of her nine children—the youngest being 32—to step into farming. Joyce said unlike her children, farming is all she has ever known.

“I grew up in farming and prefer to work for myself, but it’s a challenge for the youth to get involved.” Farming in Dominica, she said, is looked upon as a last resort for people who cannot find a job or have limited education. Asked if she exports her produce, Joyce said someone buys from her and exports to Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Maarten. The Dominica Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry sends extension officers to visit farmers to collect data, educate, guide and train them on new farming techniques. Joyce said the information given by the extension officers is not helpful. She would like advice on markets for her produce. She sources buyers on her own.

Sixty-one-year-old Ross Charles’ main produce is eggs. He has 700 layers on his almost seven acres of land. Charles said his production is not bad as his only market is local, but feed is expensive. He’s not anxious to export because the price would not be competitive. Dominica buys feed from T&T. Due to the limited market, Charles said he looks forward to the season when eggs are in higher demand in Dominica: Christmas and June-July. Charles said he has been farming since the age of 20, he has three girls, all educated. None of them is interested in agriculture. 

The three farmers—Witnell Louis, Ruby Joyce and  Ross Charles—live in Coulibistrie in Dominica’s west coast. The drive from their homes to the land takes about 20 minutes. 

Regional food security

The Caribbean forged ahead and approved the Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy from the 2010 Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Grenada. In an attempt to include these issues on the ground, the Caribbean Regional Agriculture Policy Network (CARFAN), and Agriculture Round Table (ART), held a policy forum at Tenth Caribbean Agriculture week in Roseau, Dominica, to link these realities and to involve more stakeholders in discussions to inform the creation of the action plan.

The Council for Trade and Economic Development (Coted) mandated the Caricom secretariat to create an action plan to assist in implementing and driving the policy. The ART policy forum, chaired by Diana Francis, regional specialist, policies and trade negotiations for the Caribbean Region of Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), was titled: Connecting the Dots. Dominica, popularly known as the nature isle, grows more food than its population —72,000—needs. Most of its land is used for farming. Banana and other agriculture dominate this economy. According to the United States Department of State’s Web site, nearly one-third of the Dominican labour force works in agriculture, which is highly vulnerable to weather conditions and external events affecting commodity prices.

Cheated by hucksters/exporters

Diana Henry, agriculture officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, agreed there are limited markets, the hucksters and exporters cheat the farmers out of their produce. She said the data that extension officers collect from farmers—yields, method of farming, and pest control—are not used effectively. Henry said there is a disconnect in the approach used to communicate to farmers. Henry said there are plans by the ministry to create a bottom-up approach and change the method of communicating with farmers. 

While this is so, Henry said farmers do not show up for training or workshop. The farmers have said they are too busy tending their land. Some farmers ignore advice on natural farming. The culture is one in which the social and technological profile is low, education is limited and farmers are still using traditional methods. Henry said government had instituted certain programmes to encourage the youth in agriculture, without success. Agriculture is still unattractive and farmers are discouraging their children from it.

The children of farmers have been educated to become doctors, lawyers and accountants and are living elsewhere in the Caribbean. For instance, farmer Ross Charles’ daughter is a qualified doctor living in the United Kingdom.