IICA Dominica

🌱🚀 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬.

The future of Dominica’s agricultural MSMEs took centre stage on Wednesday, June 3, as stakeholders from across the public and private sectors gathered for IICA’s Annual Accountability Seminar in Roseau.

Held under the theme “𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬: 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐌𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲,” the event went beyond reporting on results – it sparked meaningful dialogue on how agro-processors and agri-enterprises can be empowered to drive food security, create jobs, expand market access, and strengthen rural livelihoods.

A dynamic panel discussion brought together voices from finance, government, and industry to identify practical solutions for overcoming challenges and unlocking new opportunities for growth in the agricultural sector. The exchange reinforced a shared vision: a stronger, more competitive, and more resilient agri-business landscape for Dominica.

Setting the tone for the discussions, Gregg Rawlins, IICA Representative for the Eastern Caribbean States, highlighted the impact of the 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐌𝐒𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚-𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭, implemented in partnership with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and the opportunities it continues to create for Dominican entrepreneurs and producers.

Participants also gained insight into IICA’s work over the past year through a presentation by Anthony Cyrille, Technical Specialist at IICA Dominica, who outlined the Institute’s 2025 achievements and its vision for future technical cooperation in Dominica.

A significant moment of the seminar was the formal handover of IICA’s 2025 Annual Report to the Honourable Roland Royer, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy – symbolising the Institute’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and partnership.

As agriculture continues to evolve, conversations like these are helping to shape a future where Dominican farmers, agro-processors, and entrepreneurs are better equipped to compete, innovate, and thrive. 🇩🇲🌿

𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐥 𝐍𝐢ñ𝐨

𝑩𝒚 𝑴𝒖𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒅 𝑰𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝑫𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍, 𝑰𝑰𝑪𝑨

The extreme variant of the El Niño phenomenon predicted by international weather forecasts, combined with the global fertilizer crisis, poses a dual threat to rural economies, social stability, and agricultural production in Latin America and the Caribbean—a region critical to global food security.

Even separately, both factors pose enormous challenges for regional agriculture. Combined, they could become a perfect storm for millions of producers, affecting food security in quite a few nations.

Forecasts indicate a high probability of El Niño developing this year, with potentially uneven effects: heavy rains and flooding in some regions; prolonged droughts and water stress in others. The common concern is the uncertainty regarding the phenomenon’s potentially greater intensity.

In the Southern Cone, particularly in Argentina and Brazil, some regions could benefit from increased rainfall and a recovery in crop yields. In Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America, the outlook is less favorable.

There, the risk of lower yields and crop losses, decreased livestock productivity, disruptions in agricultural markets, and sharp increases in food prices is significant, which can lead to a deterioration in food security and force producers and consumers to face costs running into the millions. These are not potential dangers; recent history bears them out.

These impacts, particularly in rural areas, are often followed by debt, migration, and nutritional decline.

For agricultural producers, especially small and medium-sized ones, climate uncertainty makes it difficult to decide what to plant, how much to invest, or what level of fertilization to apply. And when fertilizers become more expensive or scarce, many choose to reduce application rates, decrease the area planted, or switch to less demanding crops, with immediate and negative effects on yields and production.

Unlike in the past, it is now possible to anticipate the occurrence, impacts, and consequences of climate phenomena such as El Niño—or its counterpart, La Niña.

Today, it is unjustifiable to act only on the consequences and limit ourselves to reacting when drought is advanced, floods occur, crops are lost, or prices rise. We must act sooner to minimize negative impacts.

For all these reasons, the time has come to move toward a proactive regional strategy. It is imperative to promote a broad hemispheric dialogue on agri-food resilience that brings together governments, international organizations, producers, the financial sector, academia, and the private sector around a common agenda: developing anticipation capabilities to protect both agricultural production and life in rural areas.

In this context, international technical cooperation, with its capacity for political and technical coordination and its relationships with governments, producers, companies, and international financial institutions, is uniquely positioned to promote regional cooperation agreements and proactive responses, as well as, if necessary, to coordinate aid and solidarity efforts to address emergencies.

Among the public-private collaboration mechanisms that can be promoted are regional platforms for climate and agricultural coordination; agreements with fertilizer and logistics companies to ensure supply in vulnerable areas; innovative financial instruments in partnership with public and private banks; the expansion of climate insurance; and joint technological adaptation programs for small and medium-sized producers.

Private sector participation is crucial for these strategies to be viable and scalable, given that chemical companies, agribusiness, banks, technology firms, and export chains play a fundamental role in the shared development of agricultural resilience.

Strengthening early warning systems and transforming climate information into concrete decision-making tools must become a regional priority. Latin America and the Caribbean produce meteorological and agricultural data of immense value, but often that information does not reach producers in a timely manner.

The widespread adoption of drought-resistant seeds and tools for efficient water management, combined with an agronomic management strategy that incorporates advanced technologies (such as GPS, drones, and sensors), should be among the other objectives of this coordination.

The dual challenge posed by El Niño and the fertilizer crisis can also become an opportunity: that of building a new agri-food governance system based on regional cooperation, innovation, and foresight.

Latin America and the Caribbean produce food for billions of people, both within and beyond their borders. Protecting this productive capacity is not merely an economic challenge. It is a strategic issue for development, rural stability, and global food security.

🐖 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 (𝐀𝐒𝐅)

Veterinary professionals, animal health technicians, quarantine officers, laboratory personnel, pig farmers, and other public and private sector stakeholders recently came together in Dominica for a two-day 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 (𝐀𝐒𝐅) 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭.

Hosted through collaboration between the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries Blue and Green Economy, the initiative focused on strengthening surveillance and response capacity across the Caribbean region.

📍 Held at the Dominica China Agricultural Science Complex in Portsmouth, the training featured:

🔹 Technical sessions on:
• Recognising ASF clinical signs
• Safe sample collection and handling
• Biosafety and biosecurity measures
• Surveillance and response protocols
• Packaging, storage and transport of samples

🔹 Field activities including:
• Farm visits in selected high-risk areas
• Ear blood swab sample collection
• Joint field work by IICA, USDA and local veterinary teams

African Swine Fever remains a major threat to the pig farming industry, food and nutrition security, and regional trade.

Activities such as these continue to build the region’s preparedness through early detection, coordinated response, and stronger technical capacity.

🌱 In Saint Lucia and Dominica, climate-smart agriculture is not just an idea – it’s already taking shape.

The project “𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐬 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬” is actively underway, supporting farmers to produce more while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving livelihoods.

IICA ECS is excited about the prospects of this initiative, which focuses on practical, farmer-centered solutions – strengthening data systems, improving practices, and unlocking new opportunities for sustainability and income.

👨‍🔬 Leading the technical work on the ground, Dr. Julian Hill, Director of Ternes Scientific and Lead Technical Partner, has been engaging farmers, agri-business actors, and stakeholders – ensuring that solutions are rooted in real needs and deliver meaningful impact.

This work is being funded through the New Zealand Government’s Climate Smart Agriculture Initiative (NZCSA-LAC) as part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), and is administered through the Ag Emissions Centre.

Farmers are being asked to produce more food, meet growing demand from the tourism sector, and respond to climate change – all while maintaining or reducing greenhouse gas emissions and managing farm waste more sustainably.

These challenges are driving 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐬 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, a project being funded through the New Zealand Government’s Climate Smart Agriculture Initiative (NZCSA-LAC) as part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), and is administered through the Ag Emissions Centre.

We say goodbye to one of our most dedicated colleagues.