4.1 Markets
4.2 Modified banana production
4.3 Crop diversification
4.4 Essential oils and firewood
4.5 Organic farming
4.6 Processing
Regional efforts are made to promote marketing of non-traditional crops by the USAID-funded Agricultural Diversification Co-ordinating Unit of OECS and the CARICOM Export Development Project, a joint project of CARICOM, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce. The OECS project is directed primarily towards fresh products in the interregional and extraregional trade, while the CARICOM project is focused on processed products. As a national institution Dominica Export Import Agency (DEXIA) is coordinating efforts to support increase and diversification of exports by providing information, training and assistance and coordination of transport to exporters. A brand for Dominican fresh products (Sisserou - the national parrot) was developed to promote the island's fruits and vegetables.
85 % of total non-banana exports are destined to the regional Caribbean market, especially Barbados, Antigua, Martinique, Guadeloupe and U.S. Virgin Islands. The potential of growth in these markets is considerable. However, there are some constraints regarding availability of inexpensive (sea) transport. DEXIA plans to expand export of fresh products to the Caribbean from 3.59 million kg in 1988 by 15 % (540,000 kg) until the end of 1992. Major products for the regional market are plantains, dasheen, ginger, pumpkins, watermelon, christophens, anthuriums, fresh herbs and seasoning and among tree crops avocados, Valencia oranges and julie mangoes. (source: DEXIA: Challenges and Opportunities)
A safe market and premium prices (twice the world market price) exists for cocoa, after an arrangement was made in 1988 with "World's Finest Chocolates" for the supply of 500 tonnes annually. (Commonwealth of Dominica 1991) In 1991 only 27 tonnes of dry beans were produced, so there is a marketable potential of planting 2000 acres with this crop. Dominica cocoa is considered superior to other provenances in aroma, so it can be expected to find a market as well in the future. The USAID-funded Cocoa Project assisted in the establishment of 100 acres of cocoa in the last years and plans to assist 500 more acres in the next years. 100 of them in agroforestry pattern, combined with fruit trees. Processing is secured by a private plant which buys all cocoa from producers.
Crops exported to Europe and U.S. will be in the future bananas, limes, oranges, christophenes and avocados as well as fresh flowers (anthurium and lillies). The export of mangoes is presently hindered by the incidence of anthracnose and fruit fly as well as by falling prices on the international market, but efforts are made to establish plants for the hot water treatment of mangoes. DEXIA previews an increase from 800,000 kg of fresh products in 1989 to 1,200,000 kg in 1992 for the overseas market.
A study made by USAID identified among others the following products as having strong market potential:
- traditional export commodities such as bananas, cocoa and spices (only the first is grown in any quantity)- tropical fruits that already have wide consumer acceptance in developed countries, e.g., mangos and avocados
- off-season (winter) vegetables like pepper, eggplant, okra
- tropical cut-flowers and ornamentals (orchides!)
- processed products that already are domestically produced, e.g., passionfruit, lime, grapefruit juices, dries sorrel, pepper sauce, bay rum
(modified from USAID 1986: USAID high impact agricultural marketing and production. USAID/LAC Caribbean regional project paper. Bridgetown, Barbados)
The development of agroforestry in Dominica will have to consider the existing market potential and favour the production of avocadoes, passion fruit, Valancia oranges, grafted mangoes, cocoa, spices, flowers and essential oils as well as organically grown bananas, citrus, avocados and mangoes.
Bananas will continue to be a major export product of Dominica, but areas of banana cultivation will decrease. Measures of soil conservation and legume ground cover can reduce the level of inputs required in the future, maintaining or improving actual yields. Regarding the perspective of lower banana prices and higher prices for inputs in the next years, research and extension should focus on these techniques. Agroforestry with nitrogen-fixing plants can contribute largely to this development.
The national policy plans to concentrate banana production on larger farmers and to enhance diversification of the smaller farms. At least 50 % of banana fields are planted on slopes of more than 20 %. The soil of these fields should be protected by contour strips (approximately 6000 acres), while between 2000 and 4000 acres will have to be reorganized in the next years, with a strong emphasis on tree crops including cocoa and spices. (see project proposals 5.2)
Several projects have existed in the last decades to diversify crop production, introducing crops like cocoa, spices, orchids etc. However, most of the projects were dedicated to only one or few crops. Diversification was seen as a macro-economic development, less as an on-farm-diversification. In reality the traditional multi-cropping practiced by Dominican farmers was more and more replaced by banana monocropping. Major efforts of the Dominica Banana Marketing Corporation and WINBAN enhanced this development. Actually, the DBMC extension service is the most active and effective in Dominica. It seems reasonable not to set up competing extension services or projects, but to include diversification in the existing extension structures, also DBMC's extension service. As this corporation is a public institution, government policies can have major impact on its activities. In the Agricultural Structure Plan 1991 - 1994 this target is mentioned (Commonwealth of Dominica 1991, page 10):
"The DBMC will be brought in the mainstream of the diversification effort. It will establish formal linkage with the MOA extension services and actively promote diversification on the more marginal banana lands."
Banana cultivation has an advantage of disproportionate incentives, estimated at 30 % of net subsidies. (Commonwealth of Dominica 1991) This advantage discourages farmers from diversifying. A new policy of agricultural subsidies on production, extension and marketing level should be elaborated to stimulate diversification and agro-forestry.
International demand cannot be met by the local production of bay oil. Dominica is one of the major producers of bay oil, but production decreased in the last years (from 40,500 lb. in 1989 to 35,100 lb. in 1990) due to scarcity of firewood for the distilleries.
It can be calculated that in 1990 4400 cbm of firewood was utilized in the distillation of bay oil. Approximately 300 acres of fast growing firewood species are required to meet this yearly demand. The need for firewood is particularly strong in the South-East. 600 acres of firewood plantations intercropped with tree crops could be established on steep slopes in that region. Regarding the good demand for bay oil, existence of enough bay leaves and the bakeries' demand for firewood the acreage might even be more.
The introduction of firewood species in agroforestry systems will reduce the pressure on existing forests which actually are suffering from the indiscriminate exploitation for charcoal production and firewood used for bay oil destination in the Southeast,
Regarding Dominica's image as a healthy natural island and concerns about the increasing contamination by pesticides, government officials, NGO members and farmers expressed their interest in organic farming. At present, a large part of agriculture still is practised without the use of agrochemicals. Considering the growing interest for organically grown products on European and North American markets, a marketing seminar about organic farming products will be organized by Dominica Conservation Association on the 2nd of January, 1992. Another effort to promote organic farming development is realized by DEXIA with the intention to market organic farm products overseas. However so far no standards and requirements regarding the label "organic farming" were established in Dominica.
The potential of organic farming can be combined with the promotion of ecotourism, as the target groups are similar and informations about Dominica's natural beauty combined with organically grown fruits can produce mutual positive effects for the image of Dominica's tourism and products.
Contacts with the International Federation of Organic Farming Movements (IFOAM) and IFOAM member organizations in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic can help to accelerate this process in Dominica and to find adequate markets. IFOAM membership of organic farmer's association is regarded as a quality guarantee on European markets. (for addresses see appendix 6)
By consumers, organic farming is understood often as the absence of agrochemicals in the cultivation certain crops. On farm level the essential of organic farming is the management of soil fertility, microclima and biodiversity, which corresponds to the objectives of agroforestry. For national policies, the significance of organic farming lies in the protection of the environment against toxic substances, the conservation of watersheds and improvement of the balance of foreign trade.
The basic difference between the concepts of agroforestry and organic farming lies in the approach towards agrochemicals, but the two concepts have many elements in common:
# multiple cropping and diversification
# use of nitrogen fixing plants
# soil conservation
# mulching
# integration of livestock
Considering Dominica's situation on the world market which limits large scale production, the interest of farmers as well as government officials in organic farming, the search for new markets in the future, the growing market for organic products and the high standard of information among Dominica's farmers it seems that organic farming can become the most popular practice among Dominica's farmers in the next 20 years if efforts are directed in this direction and support is given towards marketing of organic products in the first years. Benefits of such a development would include advantages for the balance of trade, reduction of water and soil pollution, maintenance of soil fertility and promotion for Dominica overseas.
(for recommendations on organic farming see also the report on Land Use/Watershed Management)
Major products presently processed by national industries are coffee, passion fruit, coconuts and aloes. Passion fruits juice and syrup is fabricated by Bello and Corona. The processing of citrus broke down in 1991 and the future of citrus production which depends largely on the fate of the processing industry is uncertain. The Dominica Coconut Products only utilise 20 % of its 2828 tonnes copra capacity and only 19 % of the capacity of processors of fruit juices (28,000 tonnes/year) are utilised. (Commonwealth of Dominica 1991) This situation could be improved by subsidizing and organizing the transportation from the farms to the factories, as high costs of transportation were identified as the major constraint for the utilization of fruits by the processing industries.
Processed products so far were destined basically to the domestic and Caribbean markets, but there is potential for expanding the sale of fruit juices and jellies towards the European and U.S. market. Bello will increase considerably its capacity for fruit processing in the near future and will need an increasing supply of fresh fruit, especially passion fruit. However farmers cannot expect high prices for the fruits sold to the processing industry. In the future by-products of these industries (fruit pulp, coconut meal etc.) as well as surplus bananas and other fruits should be used in a more rational way for livestock feeding or as organic fertilizers. Presently these resources are not managed sufficiently in the favour of national development.
