The Ministries of Trade and Agriculture have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish Dominca’s first agriculture produce procurement facility at the Dominica Export Import Agency (DEXIA).
The purpose of this $5,000,000 initiative will ensure that DEXIA has a more structured relationship with farmers and producers ensuring that they are paid on time for their produce.
At the signing ceremony on Wednesday, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Reginald Severin said this facility will operate as a revolving fund managed by DEXIA.
He said the ministry has identified the key challenges that farmers have faced. One of which is late payments given to farmers for the produce that they sell on the market.
“In order to respond to this challenge, we came up with an idea which was proposed by PM Roosevelt Skerrit… to create what you call a revolving fund to provide next year with the financial resources to allow them to actually provide payments to farmers in a timely manner but also too, to ensure that there is a mechanism for actually procuring farmers’ produce,” he said.
“We could hand over a cheque and call that judge and just allow DEXIA to go ahead and purchase produce from farmers but Ministry of Agriculture recognized that there is one additional challenge: that the coordination between the Ministries of Agriculture and Trade sometimes [falls] through the crack and there isn’t what you call the proper system for production to the market,” he explained
He said there may be instances where there are reports by DEXIA that there is enough produce but there may also be a complaint by the ministry that there are not enough markets. This causes both parties to stand on a trajectory in which the farmer is caught in the middle of supposedly producing, yet the market indicates that the production is not consistent enough to allow for a meeting of the minds and seamless marketing.
Severin stated now that there is a coordinated agricultural produce procurement system in place, all the players involved including DEXIA, the Bureau of Standards, and the Ministry of Agriculture are involved in ensuring that quality fresh produce is consistently available for marketing.
“The signing of the agreement here is basically to establish the terms and conditions under which each ministry will operate and to ensure that the financial resources that [are] made available to DEXIA [are] managed and that we are constantly evaluating the program that we have before us,” he stated.
Meantime, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy Honorable Roland Royer said this initiative will help resolve a long-standing problem faced by farmers over the years.
“With the creation of this facility, we’ll start off financing of $5 million to facilitate the procurement of fresh produce. [It’s] yet another milestone in our quest to increase production of fresh produce on the island,” he expressed.
“This facility will gain the farmers’ confidence in the marketplace as we continue to regain our market share–you know traditional markets that we lost due to the passage of Hurricane Maria.”
He noted that the Ministry of Agriculture has articulated its target for the most significant contribution of agriculture to GDP by 2030, and is working closely with the Ministry of Trade and DEXIA.
Under this facility, DEXIA will now be able to pay farmers and producers within two days of obtaining their produce.
Thompson Fontaine and Danny Lugay of UWP,told Dominicans that they had secured markets for all Dominica’s agricultural produce They LIED.No sooner,Fontaine got a job in South Sudan he left owing the farmers thousands of dollars.
If I was Thompson Fontaine you would be dragged before he court for slander. Typical DLP stooge adopting the profession of his master; Senior Liar In Chief.
Dominica, because of its fertile soil, abundant water sources, year round sunshine, young labour force, should be the Mecca of agriculture in the Caribbean. With steadfast focus, the right inputs (adequate fertilizers, tools, feeder roads, easy access to ow interest loans, etc), Dominica can rediscover its glorious days as the food basket, at least, of the sub region.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Timely payments so that dem farmers can continue sending their kids to universities as they once did back then. Pure bull-dust coming from the dictionary-guru.
“In order to respond to this challenge, we came up with an idea which was proposed by PM Roosevelt Skerrit… to create what you call a revolving fund to provide next year with the financial resources to allow them to actually provide payments to farmers in a timely manner but also too, to ensure that there is a mechanism for actually procuring farmers’ produce,” he said.
Wow, over 20 years it took Skerrit and his gang to come up with this. All you see now why Dominica is the way it is. Massive incompetence at the top. All they know is selling passports and now they start panicking.
DEXIA can you please tell me what is the current dollars value of Dominica agricultural exports?
How much dollars worth of agricultural products did the Commonwealth of Dominica export last year and the total over the past 23 years of this Labour party government?
I thank you.
@Truth Be Told
Man i have been asking that question for years. My question has been what has been the dollar contribution of agriculture to the Dominican economy over the past 5 years? The answer is a best kept secret, because it must be very embarrassing, since selling of passports has displaced agriculture.
More politics as usual. Need I say more?