Farming disaster?

[sollie]

I was talking to a Dominican woman in one of our offices today that hit me with a dire prediction of impending misfortune for the general populace because of recent damage, due to storms, on the farming sector. Haven't read anything here to support this and haven't done any research, so I thought I'd go for a quick education and ask the question here. Does her prediction hold water?

Sollie

[Chris]

What kind of misfortune? The situation is quite dire of course. Crops are drowned and prices will rise and there is damage to farmland of course and river bank erosion and so on, but what dire prediction of impending misfortune?

[sollie]

Don't get me wrong, and forgive my impulsiveness, but the impending misfortune was communicated as lack of normally available food (farm products) and price increases that would exclude the average Dominican from affording the same. I'm simply requesting insight as to the validity of such a position. Based in fact or merely television propaganda? How hard was the DRs farming infrastructure/production effected by storms/flooding this year. I suspect my colleages opinion may have been colored by the fact that her extended family lives in Mao and this opinion seemed to be rooted there.

[Hillbilly]

Absolutely! Over half the plantain crops in the Cibao were wiped out. Probably close to that of the banana crop. Some important rice lands were flooded, but a lot of farmers had not yet planted their crops.
In the eastern Cibao, Bajos de Yuna, they have had two important fllods nearly back to back. That is basically a plantain and rice area. Both suffered severely.

In the South, the destruction of dikes, siphons, and canals destroyed a lot of crops, and there has been some delay in fixing the irrigation systems that were destroyed.
For example in Padre de las Casas, all the green houses were destroyed, and this affected much of the vegetable crops we enjoy, like peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, and other goodies....but these items do not go on the average Dominican table...

As for critical shortages? No, I do not think so. There have been some important price increases since Olga and often times it comes to a choose your veggie choice....Tomatoes at $50, no thanks...

HB

[sollie]

Thanks Hillbilly. Just trying to get a grasp in order to sound informed in conversation without any legwork. I'm a lazy SOB sometimes. It's good to know that any damage was only regional and not critical. Surely the island will not starve without rice, bannanas, plantains and tomatoes.

Sollie

[Lambada]

Not critical starvation shortages, no. But whopping price increases to go along with already existing price increases. The basic unit of pan de agua is now 5 pesos (used to be 3). My bakers today: flauta (French bread) used to be 22 now 25, integral rolls used to be 3 now 4 pesos. Tomatoes have soared, broccoli more expensive. It will be harder for Dominicans with low incomes to put food on the table for sure. That's why they get sooooooo teed off when they see Congress and municipalities awarding themselves such exorbitant salary/expenses rises from their tax money. And if it isn't going there it's going into that other hole in the ground, the Metro. 2008 will be a difficult year for many Dominicans. And malnutrition will probably increase.

[NotLurking]

I can tell you that a good portion of the farmland in Las Barias and neighboring campos (in peravia province) got trashed by TS Noel. Perhaps about 30-40% of the farmland was flooded by the Nizao river and will be unusable for farming for quite some time. The Nizao river destroyed some farms, eroded the river bank and left behind rocks, sand and debris on a good portion of many farms. Most farmers in the area lost their crops and investments (all the money they had). Many farmers of this area are demoralized and broke. My uncle lost about 100 tareas of onions. When I spoke with him, he told me that he owed the bank money, his land was ruined and he lacked the will at age 60 to continue farming. Las Barias and neighboring campos produce a variety of veggies: onions, green peppers, cucumbers, papayas, plantains, bananas, caña, yucca, rice, beans and tomatoes (perhaps others veggies too but this is what I've actually seen being grown in the area). Cutting the useable farmland by almost half, in this area alone, will certainly cause a price increase in the general area. Although this is a very small farming area it is representative of most farming communities in the south. I would have to agree that plenty of hardship, food shortages and price increase are in our near future.

NotLurking

[Chris]

Banana producers in the Cibao estimates that approx 9,000 acres of banana fields were flooded and this will cause an estimated $40 million in lost exports. In addition to this, approximately 6,000 acres of plantain fields were ruined.
This is an agricultural disaster.

[PICHARDO]

Don't expect any famine to break out from it...
The divulged "devastation" by local growers is more focus on crops aimed for export than actual local consumption. The local availability of crops is not interrupted but prices have gone up since demand is on par to pre-flooding levels and supply is not there yet.
I must remind many of you that local crops, for local consumption are generally done in separated grounds and niches. Most of local consumed goods are "Burreados" to the city by merchants from the steep conucos and sembradios from the mountains, unlike the top quality export crops that are nursed in most of the affected valleys.

The recent change by Haitian authorities regarding the importation of Domican eggs and chickens, will however fill just perfect to over-supply the gap of crops that just became out of reach to the shallow pockets of low and middle class homes.

The local crops aimed to the DR consumers is not going to go tail spin anytime soon, but the export of crops that made the region's economy balance an stabilizing factor will created further shrinks to growth.

[PICHARDO]

I must also make it a point to remind you that after Hurricane's David devastation the crops suffered all over the country with almost 85% destruction of it. For all that, local crops and sembradios got back within months and prices adjusted accordingly to the pre-levels.

Dominican grower's associations tend to over-blow damages in order to get money from the gov and low or no interest credit from the Banks to get them to their feet...

If anything, the soil is now even better to seed than before the flooding took place.

Rivers are rich in deposits, most notably minerals and salts...