The Necessity for Agro-Tourism in Dominica

Significance attaches to the observatory remarks made by Tyrone Power, president of Barbados Agriculture Society, to the Barbados Advocate, in January, 2004. “There is a need to be an opening of trade lines between Barbados and the rest of the region in terms of certain agricultural produce…There is a situation where we [Barbados] should be purchasing more grapefruits from Dominica.” Insightful and instructive, if not apprehensive, was the comment issued by Secretary-General Byron Blake at a two-day meeting of Caribbean trade ministers which convened in Georgetown, Guyana last year: “The Caribbean is importing too much food from the United States, Canada and Europe while allowing its own production to decline… Currently, the region is importing U.S. $2.7 billion in food products, a sharp increase from 1975 when it spent U.S. $370,000 on food imports.”

These statements echoed by the two officials epitomize the unsettling reality of Caribbean Commerce: a people who disturbingly produce what they do not eat, and eat what they do not produce. Such is the case when Barbados buys citrus fruits outside the abode of the Caribbean archipelago while limes and grapefruits fall and rot in Dominica - a melancholy affair. Troublingly anomalous is the telling fact that Dominica is engaged in a grand informal contract to siphon off in the region of 45 percent of its tourism income through what is describe as foreign exchange leakage. The latest research indicates that Dominica Foreign Exchange Leakage is about 45 percent; meaning, that from every tourism dollar generated 45 cents sallies out of the country in the form of payments for foreign beverages, fruits and vegetables, arts and crafts, meats and fishes, et cetera.

I believe that the use of foreign foods – although justified at times – runs perpendicular to our eco-tourism, environmental-friendly, nature-island philosophy and has the potential of backward-stepping certain gains made in creating a nature island impression. It is saddening to speculate upon the bulk of money that could have been salvaged if we only could harness the prospective businesses that lay between the intersecting points of tourism and agriculture, by creating synergy and symbiosis, recognizing the intersectoral linkages between this bulwark pair of our economy. If, for instance, we were to make a concerted effort to reduce the leakage to 37 percent, by using in our tourism entities products that can and is produced locally, we could have saved eight (8) percent or E.C. $9.12 Million of our tourism revenue from the E.C. $114 Million garnered from tourism stay-over in 2003. If Jamaica can utilize a similar stratagem and save 63 cents from every tourism dollar earned, so can Dominica.

Interesting, most interesting is the efforts made by the agriculture authorities of Nevis, where through vital communication between farmers and hoteliers, under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture, all eggs used by the hotels are produced locally. We could take a cue from Nevis and establish a poultry industry to supply meat, which is a daily staple and eggs which is an indispensable ingredient of sundry confectionaries. I shall not speculate on the compass of jobs that can be created; the imagination of the attentive reader abounds.

All the more, for tourism to continue to be a sustainable and a viable national enterprise, it is imperative that we explore ways of linking tourism with agriculture and light industries. Tourism must be punctiliously defined and its definition should be indicative of its dependency on a hybrid combination of agriculture and light industries. Conversely, the manner in which we conduct business should give manifest proof of our sincere efforts to achieve symbiosis between these twin pillars of our economy. If eco-tourism is the definitive kernel of our tourism attraction, it stands to reason that every step in delivering the tourism product should bear the trace of our commitment to such a paradigm. For example, in the stead of Styrofoam plates and other foreign utensils, exquisitely made “calabash” plates, uniquely crafted coconut cups and other vernacular articles which jibe with our nature island concept should be given added consideration. Moreover, we could shot down two birds with one stone: creating jobs for those in the arts and craft arena and simultaneously giving countenance to the eco-tourism paradigm.

According to a report from the World Travel and Tourism Council, prepared by Oxford Economic Forecasting, Dominica will allocate U.S.14.8 Million or 17.6 percent of its total investment to tourism in 2004, while witnessing an average of 11 percent increase in tourism income. An increase in tourism should organically translate into an increase in local agriculture markets as local producers cater to the hotels and restaurants; and the later in turn communicate their precise needs to the farmers, preferable through a market intelligence unit fermented by the Tourism and Agriculture ministry by sapping unused capacity from these conclaves. What we have been doing for some time is buying other people’s agriculture products (natural or processed) and contributing to the development of foreign economies while worryingly allowing our own production to dwindle. We need to remind ourselves that agriculture is not in the posterior of the GDP; it is at the vanguard, the grease that keeps its productive wheels from grinding to a halt - the locomotive that keeps it moving, albeit ever so slowly.

Recently, I had the happy pleasure of listening to Mr. Roc Bruno on Kairi Fm, conversing on the ticklish subject of School Curriculum, to which he and his colleagues should be highly commended for their efforts in attempting to amend it. If I may interject – humbly hoping that they would vouchsafe to lend an air – it appears to me at present, that it is necessary to transpose the teaching of agriculture from one concentrated on the cultivation and propagation aspect to one with a heavy, distinct bent towards agri-business. The cultivation of plants, it is fair to say, is in our blood and scarcely needs to be taught. Wanting is the skills in packaging, distributing, presenting, and evangelizing our products to a wide world market, with many distinct targets. The necessity of shifting our agriculture education in direct response to the dynamism of the world’s markets is paramount.  Moreover, agri-business will teach our young folks the various ways to cater to local restaurants and hotels, as well as addressing the problem of marketing our products overseas. By extension, the exploration of horticulture tourism with the possibility of having tourist visit vanilla cultivations and familiarizing them to aphrodisiac herbs should be a factor in the tourism mix.

Basil G.F. Springer, a celebrated management consultant and frequent contributor to the Barbados Advocate has heralded the need for Smart Partnership within the region. Smart Partnership, as is the case with the Nevis Agriculture and Tourism authorities, can increase the chances of sustainable agricultural development. Tourism and agriculture linkages present an opportunity to harvest much from solar water heaters, handicraft, agro-processed products, music, local cuisines, local textile, clothing products and more. In the offing, if not forthwith, it would be judicious to give legs to the idea of the meeting of the great minds in tourism and agriculture, with the determination of establishing a system of Smart Partnership.

There is an old diagnosis or prognosis, simple put – that we have an agricultural production problem. I humbly beg to differ. It is my strong opinion that we have an agriculture production symptom. Our low agricultural production had been the invariable symptom of ineffective, if not zero, agricultural marketing. I say this without pointing fingers because I, too, must pick up the mantle - for nation building is a citizen’s duty!

Director
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