CARICOM Farmer of the Year Deles Warrington sees a future for agriculture with more ‘devoted young people’

Deles Warrington, CARICOM Farmer of the Year

Dominican, Deles Warrington of Calibishie who has been awarded the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Farmer of the Year for 2021, is optimistic about the future of the sector.

The award which was presented to Warrington on Friday, October 8, aims to highlight the work of farmers around the region who are contributing to the advancement of the agricultural sector in their respective countries.

Warrington says he is honoured to have received the prestigious award and believes that despite the challenges faced in the sector, agriculture is doing well.

“There is evidence that we are making strides to develop the sector even better than how it was before,” Warrington said. “We are not just sitting there and saying agriculture is dying; agriculture is on its move, but we need devoted and dedicated young people who will take up the mantle as I did…”

In addition to the committed involvement of more young people in the sector, Warrington, who has received several awards for his contribution to agriculture in Dominica, has other suggestions for the improvement of Dominica’s agriculture sector.

“One of the things I have seen so far is that we need to put our heads together, work together as one unit and try to engage each other to share technology and to assist each other in developing our agricultural sector in Dominica,” he stated.

Meantime, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit congratulated Warrington for his achievement at that high level and  said this should serve as an inspiration for all citizens.

He described the award-winning farmer who hails from the village of Calibishie, as a true example of hard work whose success underscores the critical role of agriculture in strengthening food security.

“For many years he has been a true example of hard work and industry and determination even through the most challenging period in agriculture,” Skerrit stated. “He continues to demonstrate that great potential zest within the sector to boost economic growth, sustain communities and create jobs.”

Echoing Warrington’s call for greater youth involvement in the sector, the prime minister said he hoped that “young people in particular,” would emulate Warrington’s example, “recognizing that farming is a viable career option that can be profitable if taken seriously and if they are willing to work hard.”

He said his government will continue to encourage full participation in the agriculture sector through strategic investment designed to boost production levels, diversify cultivation and increase exports.

“We hope that these interventions will attract more of our citizens to carve a niche for themselves like Mr. Warrington has done, whether it is in livestock production, fishing, the banana and plantain sub-sector or the cultivation of root crops and vegetables or traditional crops such as cassava and bay leaf,” Skerrit stated.

“The opportunities for investment in the sector are endless,” the prime minister declared.

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8 Comments

  1. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    October 16, 2021

    You are either a wishful thinker; living in the past or something is absolutely wrong with your mind!

    These are not the days when there were no other modern technologies existing, so after even graduating secondary school one only option was to become a teacher, without any teaching credentials; a police officer; nurse, but most definitely doing hard labor on some Estate; or with the advent of the now dead banana industry, work as a slave on a plantation; commonly called (garden) in Dominica. 

    How many young people you know graduating high School, and attended the Dominica State College and graduated with a two year degree in agriculture?

    Man, I know Dominicans who cannot read or write, they fled Dominica; where they are engaged in domestic work cleaning people house, and working for more money per hour, or day than the average civil servant earns in Dominica per month!

    If there is a future in agriculture, get a damn hoe, and machete; (cutlas), and engage yourself.

    • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
      October 16, 2021

      I am not finished yet, you stand there like a clown with your grin, as if what you conveyed makes some sort of sense; well I am telling you now you are spewing nonsense!

      First of all where is the market for these agricultural produce you have piled behind you in the photograph?

      You do not have a market for that outside of the Caribbean, and every island South of including Guyana produces the same thing, they are not going to buy what they have; Barbados in the middle of the Atlantic of the produce very little but they.

      Guadeloupe have the same; now in somewhere in 2019 or there about you all went to Canada with some zombie potatoes or what you exhibiting; I need you to tell me how many orders have any Dominican received from anyone in Canada for Dominica agricultural produce.

      I’ll give you the answer!

      None!

      Guy people are in the age of higher learning and technology; industries are the order of the day

  2. L C Matthew
    October 14, 2021

    This guy needs a lifetime achievement award and the highest national award for his work and contribution in agriculture, both he and the hi lux Toyota pick up. He is not a farmer of the year but of the decades maybe 20th and 21 st century too. :) i am not stretching it.
    Congrats Sir!!!!

  3. RandyX
    October 14, 2021

    “The opportunities for investment in the sector are endless,” Skerrit declared. Wow, there we go! So says that same man that killed agriculture in Dominica. Don’t Dominicans see through that Scharlatan, that calls himself PM of DA? Why do Dominicans continue to allow this man to keep taking them for fools? Why do they allow him to continue lying to them? Why do they continue ask him for left overs instead of making him give what is legally theirs in the first place? Has this man cast a spell over them?

  4. Gerard Benjamin
    October 14, 2021

    Congratulations to an extraordinary farmer and former classmate for such a crowning achievement. Wishing you many more years of strength and vigour from the Lord. Blessings.

  5. October 13, 2021

    “We are not just sitting there and saying agriculture is dying; agriculture is on its move, but we need devoted and dedicated young people who will take up the mantle as I did…” News Article

    But Mr. Warrington Sir, the above is the problem with the setback of agriculture in Dominica. And that problem is from a long, long, time ago as far as I know.

    That is the reason for the slow production of agriculture in Dominica. That is the reason we do not have a young man receiving that award in your place.

    For example in my family, the land where my grandfather used to grow bananas, ground provision, and all sorts of Citrus Fruits to make a living, are now covered with houses–the families are now buying the foods they need.

    My grandmother made a living along with my grandfather by growing vegetables and flowers, my mother never did this kind of work, and so it continued from generation to generation. Our fathers worked hard but for other farmers.

    • October 13, 2021

      The young people do not want to plow the land, as they think it is putting down the self-pride; they have no patience to wait to see the good result of their hard work; they want the fame and popularity now–but how can that be?
      Today, we should not be saying that “despite the challenges faced in the sector, agriculture is doing well”. agriculture should be a booming business in our country because we have the land, we have the climate, we have the fertile soil for anything that we plan to grow.

      Too bad that our young people are walking around with educational Degrees and Doctorates that cannot help them in Dominica and perhaps, not even if they take their high qualifications someplace else, they may still be the last to get a job, if indeed they get one at all–good Lord!

  6. AL
    October 13, 2021

    Congrats my Calibishie Brother.

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