The Ministry of Agriculture and National Food Security is encouraging everyone with backyard spaces to go into small-scale farming and gardening. The government aims to boost food production and security for every household in Dominica through this initiative to prevent famine during the ongoing coronavirus situation.
Lately, the government distributed thousands of crop seeds and seedlings to farmers across the island with those in remote areas urged to contact their extension officers for assistance. Hobbyists who are interested in backyard gardening can also benefit from the programme once they are able to prove they have available farming space, adequate water supply, and a working gardening system.
“We want people to eat safe and nutritious foods and that is what the programme entails,” said Ryan Anselm, Technical Officer of Project and Services in the Ministry of Agriculture. “We’re going to be propagating seedlings…the essentials to provide the proteins, the vitamins, the minerals, the starch and all the basic diet that a family needs.”
Meanwhile, ex-senator and former IMF economist, Dr. Thomson Fontaine, has tasked the government to do more in the area of commercial farming since this will be more rewarding on a national scale than backyard farming. The senior economic and international policy adviser to the government of South Sudan, Africa, said large-scale farming operations is needed to guarantee island-wide food security in the face of COVID-19 restrictions.
This article is copyright © 2020 DOM767
