Agriculture is particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Tropical Storm Erika in 2015 and Hurricane Maria in 2017, both significantly impacted the livelihoods of Dominican farmers and led to agricultural losses of approximately XCD400 million.
As part of Dominica’s vision to become climate resilient and ensure the sustainability of the sector, one of the initiatives conceptualized and detailed in the Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan (CRRP) was the development of Dominica as a Global Center for Agriculture
Resilience (GCAR).
The GCAR will transform Dominica into a model for best agricultural practice regionally and internationally, working across the value chain from farmers to end-users. This initiative will develop a scientific and practical approach to reducing the vulnerability of farmers and fisherfolk through the adoption of resilient practices, as well as the introduction of resilient crops and infrastructure.
CREAD was pleased to convene a consultation with stakeholders in August, to begin work on providing better definition to the GCAR. A working group has been established and will be chaired by Dr Kyra Paul, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Blue and Green Economy, Agriculture and National Food Security and co-chaired by Anthony Cyrille, CREAD’s Agriculture Growth Specialist.
Emerging from the first in what will be a series of consultations, were three prospective components which would serve as guiding pillars for the GCAR: (1) Project Development (2) Research (3) Sustainability. A priority of the coordinating team is to build on these three pillars, as well as, developing terms of reference for the personnel required for each component.
The formation and functions of the GCAR will be guided by the Agriculture Policy which is in its final stages and will be submitted to Cabinet for consideration shortly. The Policy will be complemented by a Transformation Strategy/Roadmap, which is also currently being finalized.
Recommendations from these two documents are to be consolidated and will provide the framework for the GCAR. It is highly anticipated that the GCAR will help transform the sector through incorporating resilient research, development of bankable projects and strengthening of the Ministry of Blue and Green Economy. It will also provide the necessary framework for attracting additional resources to enable the successful implementation of
transformative resilient initiatives.
