The agricultural legacy, captivating topography, welcoming hospitality and entrepreneurial spirit of Fond St. Jacques coalesced perfectly to contribute to the community’s hosting of its first-ever Dasheen Festival held on Saturday, September 28, 2024.
The event was held on the Fond St. Jacques R.C. Church grounds, attracting hundreds of patrons from across the island. Various vending booths featured items made from dasheen: wines, pies, popsicles, cakes, flour, punch, and ice lollies, to name a few. Other items on sale included prepared meals, fruits and vegetables, and fashion jewellery. There were also health booths offering patrons free checks for diabetes, blood pressure and hypertension. A largest dasheen competition, a dasheen cooking competition, and live entertainment throughout the day also helped to create the perfect ambience.
During the official opening ceremony, H.E. Peter Chia-Yen Chen, Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, noted that as climate change continues to affect the global environment, developing innovative and sustainable tourism with local characteristics has become a global trend.
“Agri-tourism, which combines ‘leisure agriculture’ with ‘tourism’, protects agricultural land and ecosystems while offering people a relaxing experience that allows them to learn about local features and land culture, which has immense value for the development of the local economy,” Ambassador Chen explained. “Today’s Dasheen Festival will be an excellent example of agri-tourism. Saint Lucia, with its perpetual summer and fertile soil, produces different crops all year round. In the future, agriculture tourism can be combined with various crops, such as bananas, mangoes, pineapples, sour sops, or watermelons, ensuring that visitors to Saint Lucia will always leave with lasting impressions and a sense of belonging.”
Ambassador Chen said that aside from being used as a meal or side dish, dasheen can also be used to make delicious and long-lasting processed foods, such as dasheen cakes, popsicles, and pastries. He explained that Taiwan’s food processing industry began to develop in 1955, later becoming the world’s leading exporter of pineapples, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots.
“According to statistics, Taiwan’s food industry had a production value of US$15 billion in 2020, with the fruit and vegetable processing and preservation sector contributing approximately US$400 million,” Ambassador Chen said. “I am very pleased to say that since Hon. Minister Hippolyte and Hon. Minister Prospere’s visits to Taiwan for baking, food and agriculture industry this year, Taiwan and Saint Lucia can engage in more collaboration in agriculture, food processing and tourism, providing greater development opportunities for farmers and local communities.”
In closing, Ambassador Chen thanked those who assisted in making the Dasheen Festival a success, including Hon. Minister Emma Hippolyte and officials from the Ministry of Commerce, colleagues from the Taiwan Technical Mission and the Fond St. Jacques Development Committee, and Hon. Minister Alfred Prospere.
Describing the festival as a healthy marriage of tradition and innovation, Hon. Emma Hippolyte, Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs, said dasheen has nourished several generations of Saint Lucians. She said the festival aimed the celebrate the traditional crop which has become a crucial part of the local diet.
“A Fond St. Jacques dasheen is a premium product with a distinct taste and we can no longer keep this gem a secret,” Hon. Hippolyte, who is also the Parliamentary Representative for Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques, said. “More people need to understand and appreciate why for decades Soufriere was referred to as ‘the breadbasket of Saint Lucia’. However, in recent times, we (have) noted a decline in agricultural activities. We note as well that our farmer core is ageing and our young people are not attracted to the industry in a manner of ensuring sustainability.”
Hon. Hippolyte said that to build interest in agriculture, the decision was made to create more economic activities in communities across Saint Lucia. In Fond St. Jacques, for example, mobilising the Fond St. Jacques Farmers Group, obtaining export markets (St. Croix, St. Thomas, British Virgin Islands, and Antigua and Barbuda) for dasheen through Export Saint Lucia, and providing financial, input and technical assistance to farmers, were some of the initiatives undertaken. Another important initiative was the Community Business Revitalisation Project, funded by the Taiwan Technical Mission.
“This Project is assisting us to turn our civic duty of Fond St. Jacques, the agricultural produce of Fond St. Jacques, mostly dasheen, into economic activity by attracting visitors to this part of paradise, by causing agro-processing to take place, and by providing farmers and the Fond St. Jacques community an opportunity to start their own businesses,” Hon. Hippolyte stated.
Mrs. Sandra Prospere, President of the Fond St. Jacques Development Committee, said the festival, which is already being billed as an annual event, has the potential to market the West Coast community in many ways, including highlighting the community’s rich agricultural legacy.
“Today is not just about celebrating the dasheen, a crop that has been central to our agricultural heritage, but is also about promoting the vibrancy, culture and potential of our community,” Prospere said. “This festival has been created to bring visitors from near and far to experience the richness of Fond St. Jacques, and to highlight the incredible role that the dasheen plays in both our daily lives and in our future.”
Prospere expressed gratitude to the team from the Taiwan Technical Mission for their unwavering support, encouragement and continued motivation, noting that their partnership with the Fond St. Jacques Development Committee has been instrumental in helping the community elevate its agricultural practices and promote sustainable tourism and business ventures.
“Today’s festival is a reflection of what we can achieve through collaboration and shared vision,” said Prospere. “The Dasheen Festival is about so much more about agriculture: it is about community building, economic growth and sustainable tourism. It also serves as a platform to showcase the diversity and versatility of this crop — from delicious traditional dishes to innovative culinary creations. It’s also a chance for us to demonstrate the strength of Fond St. Jacques as a destination for agro-tourism, attracting visitors to discover not only our agriculture, but also to experience the warmth of our people, the richness of our culture, and the possibilities that exist for growth and connections in Fond St. Jacques.”
An inaugural tour of Fond St. Jacques was organized by Mr. Rhunney Owen Augier, General Manager of Evergreen Passenger Transport Limited, and featured the seven tour guides who were trained as part of the Community Business Revitalization Project. The tour showcased the agro-processing products produced by the Fond St. Jacques Development Committee in the nearby agro-processing plant and explored the history of the Fond St. Jacques R.C. Church.
“We have developed a tour that is going to bring visitors from the north into Fond St. Jacques,” said Augier. “This is an initiative that the Taiwan Technical Mission has put together to develop small businesses in the community. So visitors in the north can leave the north via catamaran, get picked up at the dock in Soufriere, and come into Fond St. Jacques to get a tour of the community. The tour guides have been trained and certified in CPR, first aid, safety, and customer service by Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.”
During the opening ceremony, the seven tour guides were presented with their certificates.
The Fond St. Jacques Dasheen Festival was held under the Community Business Revitalization Project, which was launched jointly by the Taiwan Technical Mission in Saint Lucia and the Ministry of Commerce in August last year. To date, the project has realized many notable achievements, including the Fond St. Jacques Interpretation Center, publishing of the Fond St. Jacques Development Committee Newsletter, organizing the Fond St. Jacques Youth Entrepreneur Summer Camp, and Community seed mentor training.