Dominican Annual Flower Show
The villages of Giraudel and Eggleston in Dominica lie adjacent to the Morne Trois Pitons National Park which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. Traditional activities such as hunting, fishing, farming and logging were no longer viable in light of the conservation efforts – and the banana industry had been severely affected by changes in the preferential trade arrangements with the European markets. The Giraudel/Eggleston Flower Growers Group was established in 1984. It grew out of “Women in Agriculture” – a group of 10 farmers seeking alternative income-generating sources and aiming to promote horticultural activities.
The annual Flower Show was first held in 1973 on the initiative of one of Dominica’s pioneer organic farmers. It was organized by a broad-based community group which included many women who were farmers in the two villages. The Flower Growers Group became the main organizer in 2003 and, in 2004, the Giraudel Flower Show attracted roughly 4,000 visitors from Dominica and abroad. In 2005, the group launched an agro-tourism project called the Giraudel/Eggleston Community Gardens and Culinary Tour in collaboration with Exotica Cottage Resort, Green Mountain Flowers and local musicians and food caterers. The tour has consistently received the highest rating on the Princess Cruise Lines and was a finalist – among 333 projects from around the world – for a National Geographic/Ashoka Changemakers Award.
The Flower Growers Group is committed to community development and environmental conservation. A portion of the income from entrance fees at the 2004 Flower Show was used to help finance refrigeration at the local health care centre. The group conducts sensitization and training sessions and home garden tours and supplies cut flowers to hotels. It also raised money to purchase a 2.6 acre (1.052 ha) plot for development of a botanical garden which is now a tourist attraction. The group has received support from the United Nations Development Programme/Small Grants Programme (UNDP/SGP).
Agro-tourism is a new growth industry in the Caribbean and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has established an Agro Tourism Linkages Centre at its office in Barbados. Its focus is on agro-trade, culinary tourism, community tourism and farm-based tourism. You can find out more about them at http://www.caribbeanagrotourism.com/.
Information on the Giraudel/Eggleston Flower Group adapted from “Competing with the Best: Good Practices in Community Based Tourism in the Caribbean”, Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO):%20Competing%20with%20the%20best%20Dominica.pdf. You can access the CTO at www.onecaribbean.org and the Giraudel/Eggleston Flower Group at http://giraudelegglestonflowers.communitytourism.dm/.
Photo credit: Giraudel/Eggleston Flower Group, Dominica
