Castle Bruce farmers get Cavendish banana plants

castle bruce farmersSome 20,000 banana plantlets brought in from France are now ready to be transferred to the farms.

On Friday, July 3rd selected farmers in Castle Bruce got their batches of approximately 700 plants to be planted on one acre of land that has already been prepared.

The farmers say the mature crop can be ready in seven months.

It has taken three months for the plants to get to this stage; they arrived in April as tissue culture and were transported to the agricultural station in Portsmouth where they spent six weeks being weaned.

They were then moved to another facility for the hardening process.

Team Leader for the East Agricultural Region, Marcus Phillip is positive that the farmers are well prepared.

“Banana production in the district is nothing new to the farmers however one of the biggest challenges would be the Black Sigatoka disease. The farmer will have to ensure that the nutrition[of the plant] is maintained and best practices employed.”

The Hon. Minister for Agriculture, Johnson Drigo says all is in place to get Dominican bananas back on the European market.

“Over the next week, we will be distributing he plants to all of the farmers. The farmers have been trained and the Ministry has ensured that all the required chemicals are on island. We are teaming up with the Black Sigatoka team, Fairtrade and WinFresh to supervise the process. Our commitment is to get back on the European market. The farmers will be getting all the support they need,” he assured.

He revealed that an additional 4,000 was received in anticipation of losses so more farmers were recruited for transplanting.

The farmers are enthusiastic about the move and are confident that their plants will do well.

According to Adrien Bannis, “We are back in production.”

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24 Comments

  1. LANSAL
    July 20, 2015

    LABOUR SUPPORTERS WILL GET ALL THE HELP… DID MR LOUIS GOT ANY?

  2. Caretaker
    July 19, 2015

    Trial makes perfect! Having said that, maintenance is the key to success. You have to be consistant,caring and unite. If the so call farmers were adequately trained, they got a chance. Time will tell and good luck

  3. Francisco Telemaque
    July 18, 2015

    If these plants were grown in a green house in France, and I imagine are genetically altered to combat the disease, I think something is wrong; because a keen look at some of the leaves though they are not yet planted on a farm, have commenced to turn brown or black!

    The battle is long lost!

  4. Good
    July 18, 2015

    Why all the way from France? Please Argriculture department , you can get the banana trees from Dominican Republic for less than 10 cents a tree. In large quantities, to supply the whole country. Fertilizer can be bought to fertilize them , Check Fersan company .as well. Just saying .

  5. Annon
    July 18, 2015

    Same situation happened to citrus in Dominica. We may one day be importing limes, oranges and bananas from Antigua. That should never have happened to this island! Invest heavily in agriculture, listen, listen to words of wisdom!

  6. Catarina
    July 18, 2015

    This seems to be a good effort but never put all your eggs in one basket. Diversity in all types of banana is key.

  7. wisewoman
    July 18, 2015

    Cavendish are the variety sold for the most part in the USA. They are generally tasteless.
    If these are Genetically Modified Organisms, please keep them out of Dominica!
    What is really going on here?

    • EstateofMind
      July 18, 2015

      I agree with your comment, you`re truly a wise woman. Dominicans these bananas are no good and i am certainly sure it will lead to a lot of health complications in DOMINICA. Come on Minister of Agriculture lets stick to organic and what is naturally grown on the island. Soul not Lab. Nature not Science…” Make thy Medicine thy food and thy Food thy medicine.

  8. john Paul
    July 18, 2015

    Not sure if this will be successful or not but thank God for a Good Opposition Party who has been hammering away at this stubborn Administration about the importance of Agriculture .
    Now Mr. Skeritt stop the games and fix the Salisbury People road so that they can access their Farms!,You cannot give lip service to agriculture without fixing the feeder roads or else You will be seen as a Hypocritical LIAR!

  9. boyie
    July 18, 2015

    We don’t need this plants in Dominica. Find another way out!!!

  10. general Joan
    July 18, 2015

    all that is new is beautiful.is replacing the previous strain,the best method of preservation of the industry?
    cant any thing more be done to eradicate the disease, l mean the crop has performed exceptionaly well over the years prior to the advent of the effect of the disease.we already know the long term performance of the old fruit and should seek to recover rather than replace

    • EstateofMind
      July 18, 2015

      The diseases are man made hence the replacement, From people start to eat these bananas the pharmaceutical companies will be so happy.
      :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

  11. the fly
    July 18, 2015

    The fly say, why cant some of you people stop talking crap all day long and think positive ,the DLP is doing all it can for dominica and people but some can’t tell the woods from the trees, same old black man problem.

  12. Draw l ' argen' w
    July 18, 2015

    Yes Marcus, good to hear that “all farmers will get 700 plants. Does that mean that there are 28 farmers on island?
    At three months they are less than 3 feet and 7 months later they will be bunching or being harvested? Which one?.
    We are back in production? Really?

    Please DNO there are a lot of idiots out there who are interested in getting credible and sensible information. Please ask the right questions to people who know stuff so that the information can be a little more palatable.
    Love you Da

  13. Annon
    July 16, 2015

    Cavendish? I wonder whatever happened to the Gro Michel. Any ideas??
    I seems Cavendish is almost on its way … ..out??

  14. Truth be Told
    July 16, 2015

    “Banana production in the district is nothing new to the farmers however one of the biggest challenges would be the Black Sigatoka disease.” So I take it that these Banana plants are not Black Sigatoka resistant! Remember the problem was never Dominica bananas. The problem was the government and farmers failure to adequately contain and deal with Black Sigatoka! Has that changed, or will we be seeing the new plants up in Sigatoka in seven months time?

  15. forgotten
    July 16, 2015

    Black Sigatoka, which has destroyed banana and plantain cultivation, has not been eradicated.

    The 20,000 plants are not resistant to Black Sigatoka.

    Simply put, the disease could still seriously affect those plants. Since it is air-borne ,control is even more taxing. In fact, because of neglect and inefficiency, the Skerritt DLP Gov’t, allowed the disease to take its toll. Farms devastated. Farmers and families became poorer.

    Dominicans witnessed the demise of agriculture, in general, by Gov’t Imagine, Skerritt announced, while in Malaysia, that his Gov’t moving into “services” instead of agriculture?

    DA is a rich land of abundant water, fertile land. A people willing to continue to work the land, produce and ensure our food security, are told that services is the priority now, not agriculture?

    Dominicans know, seeing more and more, the network is well organised to sell our passports to whoever with money.

    Selling passports have plenty more $$$$$$…

  16. John
    July 15, 2015

    Until there is a way to control leaf spot all may be in vain, there used to be aerial spraying by crop duster aircraft contracted from Guadeloupe and Martinique. Dominica needs some planes for spraying.

  17. John
    July 15, 2015

    In the 1950’s and 1960′ the Dominica banana growing operation was booming along with the lime industry. At Elmshall the bananas and limes were grown together. Bananas were grown all over the island.

  18. %
    July 15, 2015

    Drigo stop exposing your buffoonery in public. If the so called farmers are your supporters, then you are already starting on the wrong foot.Before the killing of the agriculture industry by DLP,who was the top banana farmer? How many has he got?How resilient are the plantlets to black Sigatoka?Do we have local experts giving the requisite advice? When will Marigot,Wesley,Woodfordhill be factored in? We live in an inside out,upside down country.

  19. grell
    July 15, 2015

    Drigo your a waste and as i read selected farmers,just tell us the truth,the labour supporters get the banana trees,i see the Salisbury farmers gets nothing,Drigo those days will come to and end,Karma is awaiting.

    • True
      July 16, 2015

      I thought for years it has been proven that Salisbury is not a banana producing district?

  20. irie
    July 15, 2015

    Monsanto has found it’s way in. Our soils will be tainted. Never thought I’d see the day.

    • EstateofMind
      July 18, 2015

      So true, i cannot believe Dominica has gone down that path. nothing seems to amaze me in our beautiful country, A KFC is next to our local market place.

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