Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Harold Guiste said if Dominica’s citrus sector succumbs to pests and diseases, the country could lose millions of dollars per annum.
Guiste, made the remarks at the start of a three-day technical workshop on the management of Citrus Greening or Huanglongbing (HLB) in the Caribbean.
The workshop is being held at the Atlantique View Resort in Anse de-Mai.
Guiste said that the the timing couldn’t be better.
“It is estimated that Dominica could lose over $3-million per annum in foreign exchange earnings from the citrus exports as well as an estimated $5-million earned from supplying the local market if the citrus industry were to succumb to citrus pests,” he said. “Based on this very grave situation which could be further compounded by the complications caused by climate change and weather variability, I must say that the hosting of this workshop is very timely.”
According to Guiste, an island wide impact survey conducted in 1996 revealed that there were 10,139 citrus farmers and for the period 2009-2013 foreign exchange for citrus export was valued at $17-million.
“So this industry is significant and important to Dominica,” he stated.
However, over the last decade it is estimated that 25 to 40 percent of the total production capacity of the citrus industry has been lost and most of this decline can be attributed that the effects on the Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV) which is believed was present before 1998, but confirmed in 2003.
The other culprit is HLB which was detected in 2012.
The Permanent Secretary stated that the effect of HLB has had a negative impact on farmers.
“This disease has caused severe hardship to citrus farmers as they have watched helplessly at their dying citrus trees with no means to be able to save their crop and to sustain their livelihoods,” he stated.
He also informed that between 2007 and 2013, $15-million has been spent by the government in the Citrus Certification Program and the rehabilitation of the citrus industry.
Meantime, Technical Officer for Projects and Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Winston Magloire said the HLB is not only a disease unique to Dominica but is a regional problem.
This workshop is done in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Government of Dominica has brought several experts from across Latin America and the Caribbean to share ideas, strategies and experience that is being used in the management, control and eradication of HLB.
It is also intended that at the end of the workshop all countries, whether they have the disease on their soil not, should formulate a draft action plan to combat it.
Magloire said at the workshop, participants will tell their experiences and strategies in managing HLB.
“So what we will have is a transfer of information, a transfer of technologies that has been used, and also sharing of ideas in terms of strategies,” he stated.
He informed that Dominica already have in place an action plan for combating the disease, however they are expecting to get some new ideas to embrace and include in the plan.
Day one of the workshop will focus on the progress, challenges and opportunities of combating HLB, and the concepts and evolution of the strategies for HLB management and tools for HLB regional management.
Day two will focus on the topic: Design, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of National Action Plans, and day three will be on the development and review of national plans.
the ministry of agriculture has failed miserable at all fronts in the war against the threats to our agriculture industry .agriculture is almost non existent, it is in a serious mess . feeder roads alike dry river beds .it is now a national embarassment to say that we have a ministry of agriculture.
Agriculture has been losing for more than the last 10 yrs. and the citrus greening is nothing new. When there is an administration that cares about agriculture maybe then it will get a fighting chance, but it comes too late, it may never turn around.
You cannot keeping putting incompetent people to run the agricultural sector and expect good results. Think about it.
The Skerrit administration has received so much free mony you would think that they would invest sufficently in the agricultural sector to get it back on its feet. St. Lucia is doing better than us without the benefit of all this free money that Skerrit got. When it comes to growing this economy this government seem to be sitting on its brains. 10 years of Skerritism and counting and still no delivery. Tell me what’s causing that?
Mr GUISTE.tell the ambassador to the UN Henderson alll the money he and Skerrit used to bribe the diaspora citrus farmers are suffering and the money could be used to combat the disease,St.Lucia did it thats looking out for the hard working people.
d people dem tree dey cut down say it had disease still waiting for the replacement tree whats d up date on this situation?