The Dominica Freedom Party congratulate you the people of Dominica for your adherence to the social distancing recommendations and for your respect of the curfew and lockdown as our country seeks to minimize risk to life from the COVID-19 pandemic. We are thankful that no lives have been lost of the 16 persons officially reported to have been infected with the new coronavirus, most of whom have recovered. We urge our continue vigilance and pragmatism as the quasi-lock down and curfew is gradually eased.
The second pillar for resetting the agriculture industry relates to taking advantage of the heightened global health awareness in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Being in good health and having a strong immune system has been emphasized as important for individuals to overcome COVID-19 infections. There was already a global trend towards healthy eating and many foods have been identified as superfoods, many of which Dominica currently produces including sweet potatoes, avocadoes and ginger. Eating organic foods is also part of the healthy eating trend. The COVID-19 pandemic has served to heighten that global trend and efforts should be made by Dominica to take advantage of that trend.
The third pillar for resetting agriculture is the repositioning of agriculture in the context of the big idea – promoting Dominica as the nature island of the world. This means differentiating Dominica’s products based on the island naturalness. But to do so sustainably would be well served by aligning the way we live with the image that we wish to promote. This must be increasingly supported by the proof, to include that related to longevity/life expectancy. With respect to the agriculture sector, aligning to the big idea requires migrating towards organic production and targeting appropriate markets. Given our small size, aligning production to the big idea allows us to compete globally by differentiating our products rather that to compete based on scale.
A stimulus package for the agriculture industry must not be about providing hand-out to farmers, but rather about obtaining the resources to adequately pursue the three-pillar strategy. Such a strategy require resources for, product research; providing technical assistance to those with demonstrated promising efforts; organizing efforts and encouraging cooperation among farmers, exporter and processors; undertaking market research; accessing markets; putting in place adequate infrastructure including irrigation; encouraging the use of appropriate technology; providing agronomic support to farmers (including that related to organic farming practices and soil conservation); raising standards and certifying production; facilitation transportation to export markets; encouraging the participation of young people, providing financing opportunities to include loans, export credit and venture capital.
In our next statement, we will discuss strategies for resetting the tourism industry.
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