Dominica is an agricultural island with agriculture contributing more or less 30 % to the gross domestic product in the last years and the island's industry based upon agricultural products. Copra is used for the production of coconot oil, soap, detergents etc., citrus, passionfruit and other fruits for juice, jam and concentrates. Government earns revenues from agriculture mainly through the taxes paid by the processing industry and its employees as well as some bigger banana farmers. On the other hand, incentives in the form of duty-exemption of inputs or even free inputs and seedlings are given to the farmers.
High rainfall (up to 10,000 mm) and steep slopes determined the predominance of perenniel and tree crops in Dominica's agriculture. Other than on many West Indian islands sugar cane was less important for Dominica's development and traditional agroforestry was practiced on big estates as well as by small farmers. Multiple storied cropping systems included coconuts, bananas, citrus, coffee and cocoa on the estates and a combination of these crops with different fruit trees, root crops and vegetables on small farms.
Most estates were given up by their owners in the last decades and agriculture underwent rapid change towards modernization since, playing a major role in today's development and problems of Dominica. At present, approximately 25,000 acres are used for agriculture, 50 % for bananas. Even bananas are generally intercropped with some other crop, and most of the remaining acres is planted with tree crops, especially citrus and coconuts.
Still more than 50 % of the island's total land area of 79,000 ha is covered by rainforest (1984: 45,000 ha approximately), and much of it unsuitable for agriculture. In the future, Dominica expects to attract tourists by this rainforest and to develop tourism to a major economic sector. The future development of Dominica's forest will cause major impacts on all sectors of Dominica's economy. As a consequence, the Tropical Forestry Action Programme in Dominica considers the different functions of and influences on the forest to develop a sustainable strategy for the long-term development of the forest sector in the framework of changing national and world economies.
This report deals specifically with questions of the integration of trees in agricultural systems and their potential to support an equilibrium between economic activity and ecological stability. It forms part of the Country Level Exercise realized in the months of November and December of 1991.
