$10 Million China-Funded Facility Will Boost Farming Revenue by $700 Million
PM Roosevelt Skerrit revealed that the agriculture sector will contribute about EC$700 million to the GDP of Dominica by 2030. This economic projection is based on the EC$10 million Dominica Agricultural Science Complex Building which is fully funded and scheduled for construction by the Chinese government.
According to Skerrit, agriculture currently contributes about EC$300 million to the country’s GDP – but this will climb to EC$700 million when the new agriculture station is launched. He said the centre will revolutionize agricultural technologies to boost crop production through high-yeild and pest-resistant crops and seedlings. He stated that crop pests and diseases will be almost eliminated the research and development that will take place at the centre.
I believe that [crop pests and disease] is costing us as farmers about 40% of the cost of our agricultural pursuits and with the introduction of tissue culture plants and seedlings, this is going to help in reducing and if not eliminating, the presence of certain pests and diseases on our farms, giving farmers clean planting material.
Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica
The Dominican leader said the crop technologies that will be developed at the facility will benefit nations in the OECS. He added that with increased food production in the country, the government will spend less on food import bill, protect foreign exchange, and have more money available for the use of farmers and farming communities.
The Chinese ambassador to Dominica, Lin Xianjiang, said the proposed Dominica Agricultural Science Complex will serve as a sister project with the China-Dominica Modern Agriculture Centre in terms of farming hardware and technology. The latter is a state-of-the-art tissue culture laboratory and technical training centre to develop virus-free seedlings and high-yeild crops.
I am confident that the two projects will aid in your quest to restore, revitalize and modernize your agricultural sector. I hope this gift presented here today will be a help as Dominica is navigating its way to a sustainable and self-sufficient future.
Lin Xianjiang, Chinese ambassador to Dominica
The Minister for Agriculture and National Food Security, Fidel Grant, said the initiative will engineer the genetic composition of plants to be resistant to climate change, non-climatic stressors, and crop chemicals.
The need for producing plant via tissue culture is a result of the demand from the farming community for rapid production of pests and disease free planting material and the urgency of diversifying the sector. With the advent of climate change, there is a great need to protect, conserve, and or improve the genetic make-up of our plants to enhance their tolerance to the climatic and non-climatic stressors and to optimize their response to the agriculture inputs, chemicals and natural growth enhancers.
Hon. Fidel Grant, Minister for Agriculture and National Food Security
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