Communications Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy Petra Grell- Shillingford reminds vendors that there is an adequate amount of fresh produce on island for consumption during the 2023 independence celebrations. She was speaking during a WCMF press conference held this week. Grell-Shillingford said the produce includes provisions, citrus, cacao, meats, fish, and vegetables to name a few.
“We know that our mandate is to produce adequate amounts of healthy foods and what we see sometimes is being offered to the patrons is just the opposite of that,” she said. “We want to encourage the food vendors that there may not be linkage they require in terms of getting the produce, but we made adequate amounts of preparations for this season.”
According to her, the Ministry of Agriculture has collaborated with the DEXIA under the Emergency Agriculture Livelihood Project to allow vendors to purchase fresh produce on a bulk level or wholesale from DEXIA.
“As we speak right now, DEXIA is looking to purchase from the farmers, sweet potatoes, tania, dasheen, yams, pumpkin, cucumbers, passionfruit, bananas, plantains, dried coconuts, seasoning peppers, ginger, pineapple, eggplants, and avocados,” she revealed. “We would like farmers to understand that DEXIA is now purchasing these and actually providing you with a payment within 48 hours.”
Grell-Shillingford told restaurant owners who purchase from supermarkets for their catering services, to be mindful that they can also go to DEXIA and purchase goods.
“The mark-up is negligible. DEXIA is not in the business of making money and profit, they are here to satisfy the market when it comes to farmers and vendors,” Grell-Shillingford stated.
She explained that farmers sometimes have the produce at hand and they don’t know where to sell them.
“So, I want to encourage the vendors that when you are preparing your meal plans and menus, to think out of the box,” Grell-Shillingford encouraged.
She added, “There are many activities during this festive season, there are a number of fringe events and I just want you to be mindful of that.”
Related Articles
Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of
DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member.
All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never
censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain
a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.
We will delete comments that:
contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
DNO why is my comments not posted? My comments are alway informative and never insulting unlike most of what gets posted. Please stop this bias behaviour, where’s the integrity?
ADMIN: We do not know you and have no bias against you. The time it takes has nothing to do with you.
Comments are usually approved within 24 hours with the exception of weekends and holidays.
There were also hundreds of comments to moderate which would contribute to the overall time taken.
Jesus is lord
October 15, 2023
This lady have made clear the lack of organisation in Dominica when she said, “the farmer don’t know where to sell their produce.” Madam, had your department and the ministry of agriculture better organised over the years. Shouldn’t this situation been solved by the necessary authorities? I ready what is being said by the so called persons in authority in Dominica and sense they lack knowledge about what they are talking about.
RA is King
October 17, 2023
It seems she is not knowledgeable but the lady has her opinion. Europe gave us Jesus and taught us they are in control of our religious briefs. Well,..there is no rapture, and no coming back. Find RA the original GODHEAD they replaced violently for you with themselves, Romans – the Vatican.
Raj Raheem
October 13, 2023
It’s safer for me to eat Rice and tuna in tin, than to buy produce at the market. I know where to get my organic food. Our “farmers” are not trained to grow healthy food. Ask any farmer in Dominica how many cups of fertilizer is enough or too much for a plant of dasheen, and see if the are able to answer that question. They load the plants with too much fertilizer, plus the herbicides they used without the knowledge of proper mixture. In order for Dominica and the Caribbean to eat healthy food, fruits and vegetables governments need to increase the price of fertilizer by 50% and no fertilizer should be give Free to farmers. Our agriculture minister knows nothing about safety in sowing and reaping. What’s his job description, anyway? He himself couldn’t say. You won’t see me buying anything from the market except cinnamon and jelly coco.
Just Asking
October 14, 2023
Hmm, amm, been smoking that thing again eh?
Just Asking
October 15, 2023
Dude, where have you been, you see farmers in Dominica that can afford all that fertilizer you talking about?
Farmer from Roseau
October 13, 2023
interesting. you now telling food vendors boycott the supermarkets who buys from dexia and go buy from dexia directly.. boycott the roseau market vendirs and go buy from dexia directly
this shows a high level of poor communication and coordination by these officials.
AP
October 13, 2023
is Dexia going to continue buying farmers produce when the festivities are over? Dexia needs to find international markets for these products so farmers can continue to market their products and have a sustainable livelihood always.
Affa
October 14, 2023
Thinking ahead how about cannabis vendors? They have already built many, maybe 15% of your housing stock and 30% of vehicles, if not more, on your roads along with the number of related jobs created. This is humongous, serious stuff. These oils are very valuable and beneficial to our citizens, the most versatile crop needed to enable farmers’ and secure their livelihoods. I’m quite sure the head at DEXIA requires a doctorate, what for, if not thinking outside the current box?
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Read More
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
DNO why is my comments not posted?
My comments are alway informative and never insulting unlike most of what gets posted.
Please stop this bias behaviour, where’s the integrity?
ADMIN: We do not know you and have no bias against you. The time it takes has nothing to do with you.
Comments are usually approved within 24 hours with the exception of weekends and holidays.
There were also hundreds of comments to moderate which would contribute to the overall time taken.
This lady have made clear the lack of organisation in Dominica when she said, “the farmer don’t know where to sell their produce.”
Madam, had your department and the ministry of agriculture better organised over the years.
Shouldn’t this situation been solved by the necessary authorities?
I ready what is being said by the so called persons in authority in Dominica and sense they lack knowledge about what they are talking about.
It seems she is not knowledgeable but the lady has her opinion. Europe gave us Jesus and taught us they are in control of our religious briefs. Well,..there is no rapture, and no coming back. Find RA the original GODHEAD they replaced violently for you with themselves, Romans – the Vatican.
It’s safer for me to eat Rice and tuna in tin, than to buy produce at the market. I know where to get my organic food. Our “farmers” are not trained to grow healthy food. Ask any farmer in Dominica how many cups of fertilizer is enough or too much for a plant of dasheen, and see if the are able to answer that question. They load the plants with too much fertilizer, plus the herbicides they used without the knowledge of proper mixture. In order for Dominica and the Caribbean to eat healthy food, fruits and vegetables governments need to increase the price of fertilizer by 50% and no fertilizer should be give Free to farmers. Our agriculture minister knows nothing about safety in sowing and reaping. What’s his job description, anyway? He himself couldn’t say. You won’t see me buying anything from the market except cinnamon and jelly coco.
Hmm, amm, been smoking that thing again eh?
Dude, where have you been, you see farmers in Dominica that can afford all that fertilizer you talking about?
interesting. you now telling food vendors boycott the supermarkets who buys from dexia and go buy from dexia directly.. boycott the roseau market vendirs and go buy from dexia directly
this shows a high level of poor communication and coordination by these officials.
is Dexia going to continue buying farmers produce when the festivities are over?
Dexia needs to find international markets for these products so farmers can continue to market their products and have a sustainable livelihood always.
Thinking ahead how about cannabis vendors? They have already built many, maybe 15% of your housing stock and 30% of vehicles, if not more, on your roads along with the number of related jobs created. This is humongous, serious stuff. These oils are very valuable and beneficial to our citizens, the most versatile crop needed to enable farmers’ and secure their livelihoods. I’m quite sure the head at DEXIA requires a doctorate, what for, if not thinking outside the current box?