Crop and livestock farmers in Dominica can look forward to receiving occupational assistance worth EC$10 million from the government in the next few weeks. This government assistance is part of the Contigency Emergency Response Component (CERC) of the Emergency Agriculture Livelihoods Project, said Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.
Skerrit said the support will cover the supply of crops, fertilizers, and farming implements to enable farmers make the most of their investments. He said the amount of financial help rendered will be determined by the size of crops and livestock holdings managed by each farmer. He disclosed that small-scale farmers will receive EC$700, medium-scale farmers will get EC$1,400, and large-scale farmers will receive grants of EC$2,800.
The total amount of grants to be given out is valued at EC$3.5 million.
“Support will be provided to crop and livestock farmers,” Skerrit said. “This will include the provision of planting materials, essential inputs such as fertilizer, small farming implements and animal feed to assist with meeting the cost of farm labour and other direct costs, cash grants have been approved to approximately 2,500 individual crop farmers.”
According to the prime minister, the agricultural intervention package will ensure that food import bill is reduced, lower family expenses, improve dietary quality, and add to sustainable employment. Families will also be able to market more of their crop and livestock products while earning more revenues from their endeavours.
Skerrit added that the government will help further to buy back many of the cultivated crops and livestock for onward distribution to vulnerable communities in society. He said the sum of EC$3 million has been set aside to facilitate the buyback initiative so as to ensure the sales of crops and livestock produced by farmers on the island.
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