Dominica recovery helped by 130,000 seedlings

The rebuilding of Dominica’s food production sector has been given a boost by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the OECS Commission’s Agricultural Unit.

The industry was left decimated with the passage of Hurricane Maria on 18 September.

In an effort to stimulate recovery, more than 130,000 seedlings have been planted in Dominica, with many more distributed to the island's famers.

Funding has been provided for the rapid production of seedlings by the OECS Commission’s Agriculture Unit under the IICA-Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute’s Agricultural Rehabilitation Budget.

The support is being used for the rehabilitation of greenhouses, irrigation equipment and input for the maintenance of nurseries in Roseau and Portsmouth, which have a combined weekly distribution to farmers of around 30,000 plants a week.

Peter Dillon, special agricultural advisor to the OECS Director General, said the seedling re-planting scheme was established to accelerate food security for Dominica’s residents leading into the New Year.

Quick growing crops will include cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant, string-beans, sweet peppers, cucumbers and watermelons.

“We have been distributing seedlings to commercial and ‘backyard farmers’ and supplying the Portsmouth Agricultural Station which provides food for the retirement home and hospital.

“We are now working to expand that distribution to other communities in Dominica to enable localised food security.

OECS Director General Didacus Jules thanked the IICA for their contribution to Dominica.