• Covid-19
  • Travel Protocols
  • Immigration & Customs Form
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
SKNIS
  • Home
  • About
  • Press Releases
  • Parliament
  • In The News
  • Bills
No Result
View All Result
SKNIS
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Cultivating Dominica’s seamoss industry from shore to land

SKNISEditor by SKNISEditor
December 22, 2022
in Featured, Press Releases
Cultivating Dominica’s seamoss industry from shore to land
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

FAO and the Fisheries Division are working together to support local seamoss Farmers to increase
their production of seamoss in the country.
December 22, 2022 – Bridgetown, Barbados – Across the Caribbean, seamoss, the algae more popularly
known as Irish Moss, has long been a staple in tasty homemade and commercial blended juices, many
purported to have energy inducing capabilities and a range of health benefits. A superfood, widely sold
in its liquid and dried form, the strand-like algae thrive in Dominican waters, although it is also imported
from other Caribbean countries.

Over the past years, the Commonwealth of Dominica has worked hard at developing the seamoss
sector, using its own indigenous variety. However, Gracilaria, the Dominican specie, is slow growing,
creating a challenge for farmers and producers alike.

Related posts

PRIME MINISTER DR. DREW OPENS GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE ISLANDS SUMMIT; URGES CONTINUED LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS IN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE FIGHT

PRIME MINISTER DR. DREW OPENS GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE ISLANDS SUMMIT; URGES CONTINUED LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS IN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE FIGHT

May 27, 2025
No Collective Management Organisation, Including ECCO, is Currently Authorized  to Operate in Saint Kitts and Nevis 

No Collective Management Organisation, Including ECCO, is Currently Authorized  to Operate in Saint Kitts and Nevis 

May 27, 2025

Working towards the promotion of sustainable and resilient value chains in the Caribbean and a Blue
Transformation of aquatic food systems, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), and the Ministry of the Blue and Green Economy, Agriculture and National Food Security of the
Dominica, have been working together to create a sustainable and robust Dominican seamoss industry.
The first step in this process is ensuring a consistent supply of seamoss.

Local Dominican seamoss beverages are widely sold in the Dominican market, and some are also
exported across the Caribbean. However, at present, the Gracilaria seamoss is grown wild, relatively low
yielding and carries a longer time for harvesting, compared to other varieties. This presents a serious
supply challenge for farmers of the dried seamoss that carries significant income generating potential.
Many producers, who purchase the dried seamoss from farmers to make beverages, have had to rely on
imported seamoss as the country struggles with rapid and cost-effective production of the algae and the
threat of its depletion.

Through collaboration with the Fisheries Division of the Ministry, FAO has now introduced the
production of a more lucrative, fast-growing and sustainable variety of seamoss, called Eucheuma. At
present, local and imported Gracilaria, as well as Eucheuma, imported in small quantities, is used to
support the demand for seamoss products. However, Eucheuma production is less familiar to most local
farmers.

To support the introduction of this specie as a viable alternative for growing in Dominica, FAO will
facilitate training of seamoss Farmers in the sustainable farming, harvesting and production of the
Eucheuma variety. Scheduled to take place between January and March of 2023, the FAO regional
expert on seamoss production will train farmers in good agricultural practices in seamoss production
and support dedicated seamoss farms to be better positioned to ensure consistent and quality supply of
this fast-growing variety.

Ms Bree Romuld of FAO’s Value Chain Development Programme, remarked, “with a push towards
recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, stronger income generating opportunities and environmentally
and economically sustainable value chains in the Blue Economy, helping farmers to grow a consistent
supply of seamoss and working our way up to developing the rest of Dominica’s seamoss value chain is a
timely and pertinent step. If we can strengthen the seamoss value chain and build a thriving seamoss
industry, we can help in improving livelihoods, increasing jobs and business opportunities for value-
added products and encourage better management of aquatic resources.”

Improving Dominica’s seamoss value chain would also support efforts to reduce the Caribbean
Community’s (CARICOM) food-importation bill by 25 per cent by 2025, whilst maximizing the sector’s
contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and support its achievement of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most importantly, it will improve the incomes for women, who
primarily farm seamoss. It will also help in achieving better production, a better environment and a
better life for many Dominican families and communities and ensure a more sustainable and resilient
seamoss value chain that promotes social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
This initiative is a part of the FAO Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean Value Chain Development
Programme and is specifically geared towards the Sustainable Development of Resilient Value Chains
and the implementation of the CARICOM COVID-19 Agri-Food Recovery Plan.

Previous Post

ONLY TWO PERCENT OF RAINFALL RUNS TO THE SEA, EXPLAINS MINISTER MAYNARD

Next Post

VACANCY FOR CHIEF NURSING OFFICER

Next Post
VACANCY FOR CHIEF NURSING OFFICER

VACANCY FOR CHIEF NURSING OFFICER

WHAT'S HOT

PRIME MINISTER DR. DREW OPENS GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE ISLANDS SUMMIT; URGES CONTINUED LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS IN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE FIGHT

PRIME MINISTER DR. DREW OPENS GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE ISLANDS SUMMIT; URGES CONTINUED LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS IN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE FIGHT

May 27, 2025
No Collective Management Organisation, Including ECCO, is Currently Authorized  to Operate in Saint Kitts and Nevis 

No Collective Management Organisation, Including ECCO, is Currently Authorized  to Operate in Saint Kitts and Nevis 

May 27, 2025
VACANCY NOTICE – CROWN COUNSEL I & II (DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION’S OFFICE)

Vacancy Notice – GIS Technician, Water Services Department

May 27, 2025

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

  • 2025
  • Attorney General, Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs
  • Bills
  • Featured
  • Featured Ministry
  • Government Projects
  • Home Page Slider
  • In Focus
  • In The News
  • Interviews
  • Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources; Cooperatives; Entrepreneurship and Creative Economy
  • Ministry of Education, Youth; Social Development; Gender Affairs; Aging and Disabilities
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, Industry and Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Economic Development and Investment
  • Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Energy and Utilities; Domestic Transport; Information, Communication and Technology; and Posts
  • Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment; Climate Action and Constituency Empowerment
  • Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation; International Transport; Employment and Labour; Urban Development
  • Notices
  • Parliament
  • PMO Press Releases
  • Press Conferences
  • Press Releases
  • Prime Ministers Office, Ministry of Finance; National Security; Citizenship and Immigration; Health and Social Security
  • Register of Voters
  • Round Table
  • The Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Secteatry
  • Uncategorized

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK

Facebook Pagelike Widget

LOCATION

St. Kitts Nevis Information Service
Government Headquarters
Chruch Street
Basseterre
St. Kitts
Tel:(869)467-1416

FOLLOW US

  • Government of St. Kitts & Nevis

© 2020 St. Kitts & Nevis Information Service. Developed by E-Government Unit

No Result
View All Result
  • Home

© 2020 St. Kitts & Nevis Information Service. Developed by E-Government Unit