Rain

[sonnie]

I want to know about the impact of rain in dominican economic and agricultural production.

[Ken]

What exactly do you want to know? For example:

1. Drought empties the reservoirs and rivers, causing many users, especially big users, like hotels, to have to buy water trucked in that is taken from dirty rivers with minimal water in them.

2. Drought causes obvious problems for agriculture.

3. Too much rain causes floods that wipes out a lot of poor people and knocks out some roads and bridges, with the expected problems.

I think you could answer the question by asking yourself what is the impact of rain where you live.

[Hillbilly]

What crops are grown and where.

Talking about just the Cibao Valley, from Santiago west, almost all agriculture is irrigated because rainfall in not enough. There are some tobacco fields that follow the old cycle of hand watering the seed beds, hoping for the rain at the "right" time, transplanting, hoping for a shower or two (usually during the normally "rainy months") and then harvesting during the "dry" months.

But the rest of the agriculture is irrigated: rice, tobacco, mursaceas, melons, etc. etc.

Now, east of Santiago, because of increased rainfall, the crops are seldom irrigated, with the notable exception of the rice fields, of course. These are mostly located along the Yuna watershed. Moca, La Vega, San Francisco de Macorís produce Coffee, Cacao, mursaceas, yuca, and other foodstuffs. The further east one goes, the more difficult agriculture becomes, with flooding a serious problem along the Yuna basin. Way out east in Nagua, Sánchez and Samaná, coconuts and tubers such as Yautía and ñame are important crops, because they can handle high levels of rainfall without rotting in the ground.

As for the rest of the country, you had better wait to see what comes up.

HB