The National Export Council Secretariat (NECS) and the Dominica Youth Environment Organization Inc. (DYEO) collaborated in hosting a two-day Market Readiness Workshop held on Thursday 22nd November 2012 and Friday 23rd November 2012 at DEXIA’s Boardroom.

The objectives of this workshop were to:

    inform small enterprises of specific market access requirements in identified markets,
     to increase the marketability and export potential for enterprises which are not exporting and to improve marketability for those already exporting

The sessions focused on five key areas: Quality Assurance, Packaging and Labeling, Basic Standards, Costing and Pricing and Branding and Marketing which were delivered by representatives of the National Export Council Secretariat and DEXIA as well as the Dominica Bureau of Standards. Participants also had the opportunity to engage with key resource persons to discuss and assess their enterprises’ export readiness.

There was a mixture of participants comprising 5 in the craft/jewelry making industry, 2 in the health and beauty service industry, 3 in bath and spa products particularly soaps and 1 in agro-processing of toloma (arrowroot). They were clients of both DYEO and DEXIA/NECS.
Altogether there were 11 participants who received certificates of participation at the end of the two day workshop.

This initiative was in preparation for Phase Three of the Project in Soft Core/Business Development Training by the Dominica Youth Environment Organization.  In Phase One, the Dominica Youth Environment Organisation Inc (DYEO) partnered with the Pinelands Creative Workshop (Barbados) and the UN Women to examine how vulnerable female heads of households in Barbados and the OECS can mitigate the present economic conditions through taking advantage of emerging economic sectors. Phase Two was a pilot Project termed the Think Tank Forum through which a workshop was held under the theme – “Building Blocks for Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Caribbean”

Under Phase Three, DYEO decided to collaborate with the National Export Council Secretariat to sensitize the targeted group in economic and marketing aspects for further capacity building and enterprise improvement.

The Dominica Export Import Agency signed an MOU with P. W. Bellot and Co. Ltd on July 3rd, 2012  to contract farmers to produce 15 acres of Moruga Red hot peppers. The purpose of this project is to provide high quality fresh hot peppers to BELLO for production of its hot pepper sauce. The stakeholders who are involved are National Export Council Secretariat, IICA, Ministry of Agriculture, CARDI and Dominica Bureau of Standards.

The farmers who are producing hot peppers in the South of the island have established 5.43 acres of Moruga Red to date. A training session was conducted on 5th February 2013 at Mr.Delon Antoine’s Disco in Petite Savanne. The training was done in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture Southern Extension team. Ten (10) farmers attended the session. The farmers received training on the agronomy of hot peppers and topics included land preparation, planting pruning, weed control, pest and disease control, safe use of pesticide and fertiliser application.

The session was done in the form of lecture however samples of materials were shown and small demonstrations were conducted in house to allow the farmers to clearly understand certain concepts. The farmers participated fully while the session was conducted.
The farmers were taken on the plot to observe the plants and to make suggestions and recommendations. Some pest and disease situation were pointed out. The application of fertiliser and pruning were demonstrated.

The Ministry of Agriculture staff deliberated on the subject of Cluster Formation with the objective set as the formation of a hot pepper cluster to work closer to achieve greater production.  

The farmers were very pleased with the content of the training and other topics will be covered in the future.