Hot pepper industry symposium scheduled for tomorrow

     CARDI,DEXIA and the Ministry of Agriculture to host a national symposium on the hot pepper industry on Wednesday April 20th, 2006 at the Fort Young Hotel. The half-day symposium will critically examine the current status of the Industry in Dominica with a view to charting a way forward

     CARDI in collaboration with DEXIA and the Ministry of Agriculture will host a national symposium on the hot pepper industry on Wednesday April 20th, 2006 at the Fort Young Hotel. The half-day symposium, scheduled to commence at 8:30am will critically examine the current status of the Hot Pepper Industry in Dominica with a view to charting a way forward for the Industry.

     The Minister of Agriculture & the Environment, Dr. Colin McIntyre is expected to address the symposium. Other stakeholders including DEXIA, CARDI, P.W.Bellot & Co., farmer representatives, representatives from the various financial institutions and Julius Ross from CARDI Antigua, will also make presentations. The constraints affecting the development of the industry, current cultural & agronomic practices, production for agro-processing, marketing, financing options & risk management, and innovative technologies and solutions are among the themes to be explored. The symposium will culminate with an open panel discussion on charting the way forward for the industry.

Farmers, youth in agriculture, financial institutions, agro-processors, hucksters, exporters, agro-chemical suppliers, and plant propagators are targeted for this industry-wide gathering and are expected to be the primary beneficiaries of the hot pepper symposium.

Within recent times, hot peppers have become one of the major export crops in Dominica earning a little over half a million dollars in 2003. Three varieties of the fruits - West Indian Red, CARDI Green and Jamaican Scotch Bonnet - are grown commercially in Dominica. The green peppers are sold to export markets in the Caribbean and the USA while the ripe fruits are sold to local agro-processors for processing