The second stage of the Project Alliances for the Development, Expansion and Support of the Coconut Industry for the Caribbean begins this Thursday, whose objective is to improve the competitiveness of coconut producers, the strengthening and integration of Dominican companies in the international chains.
This project, carried out by the International Trade Center (ITC), is implemented in the Dominican Republic by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Dominican Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Research (Idiaf) and the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD).
This crop, due to the growth of its demand for different uses: food, industrial, cosmetic and medicinal, represents an opportunity for producers, processors, marketers and exporters, to generate income for them and foreign exchange for the country, said Luis Bonilla, President of the Council of Directors of the JAD, on the spot.
He indicated that the most important lines that any project must have to develop a crop in all its phases, from the research, production, commercialization, and export phases were considered.
The Vice Minister of Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Faruk Garib, for his part, said that the Ministry of Agriculture is providing constant support to coconut producers at the national level, and reported that they have 300 thousand coconut nuts of the Alto del Norte varieties. Atlantic and Brazilian Dwarf, in the process of germination, supervision, and fertilization to deliver to small and medium producers.
Meanwhile, the executive director of Idiaf, Eladio Arnaud, offered the support of that entity through its network of laboratories, and as an institution that generates knowledge and technology for the agricultural sector.
The total investment at the regional level is 5.88 million euros, financed by the European Union, with a duration of four years. Twelve Caribbean countries will be covered: the Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The focus of the Project in the country will be directed to technical assistance, technological innovation, propagation of quality planting material, creation of financing tools, technical support to small and medium enterprises and farmer cooperatives; as well as market development with the business sector and processors.
It will have national coverage with emphasis on producers or productive groups in the provinces with the highest coconut production: Barahona, El Seibo, La Altagracia, María Trinidad Sánchez, Monte Cristi, Samaná and Valverde.
The first phase of the Project began in 2015, date from which different public and private institutions work in coordination for its development in the country, under the structure of the National Coconut Platform, led by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The activity, held at the Institution’s headquarters, was attended by Luis Bonilla, president of the Board of Directors of the JAD, the Vice Minister of Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Faruk Garib, the Executive Director of Idiaf, Eladio Arnaud, Sandra Lara, director of Digecoom, technicians, producers and processors of coconut.
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