The Government of Commonwealth of Dominica on Wednesday has made another announcement, bringing relief to the farmers across the island nation by providing and assisting them with the general tools required to them.
Noting to this, the government of Dominica has announced of providing support to the Banana and plantain farmers in the form of tools, fertilizers as well as soil amendments in assisting them with the general husbandry exercises along with increasing the production & profitability.
The following came after the intervention of the World Bank Funded, Emergency Agricultural Livelihoods and Climate Resilience Project of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy. From the coming June 1, 2023, the farmers across Dominica will be provided with the assistances on the basis of their cultivated acreages and production levels.
As per announcement made by the Government of Dominica, the farmers across the nation will be receiving the packages from two categories: 2 acres but less than three acres under active cultivation will receive an incentive package which values at around $5,400.00 and those with three acres but less than 6 acres will receive packages worth $10,800.00. Additionally, every farmer will receive, per each acre cultivated, ten (10) bags of Agricultural White Lime and 2 packets Diathane.
At the same time, the Project Manager, Kervin Stephenson said the cultivation of these national priority crops is crucial for safeguarding food security of Dominica and also contributing to the foreign exchange earnings.
He added that the Ministry has aligned the production of the crops with the ongoing ‘Eat Local, Live Long’ initiative.
“With the resources provided by the Government of Dominica and through the Ministry’s policy directive we continue to provide stability to the sector, and through the equitable distribution of supplies the structure of the Banana and Plantain Unit and other units within the Ministry will make advancements,” Stephenson noted.
The Government of Dominica remains committed to strengthening the institutional capacity of Ministry of Agriculture to facilitate the increase in banana and plantain production levels on island.
