StoDgo-Samana Highway Palm trees question

AimHigh · #1 02-03-2009, 12:41 PM

On my recent trip to the DR I took the new Santo Domingo – Samana Highway (Juan Pablo II) and something that I saw caught my attention. I noticed that the road cuts through a HUGE farm of palm trees which are planted in order. They were thousand of palm trees that stretched for least 10km and by the way they were planted you would tell they were not wild palm trees.

Does anyone have any information about that property, who owns it, the history of it and what they do with the trees? Any information, reference or links would be appreciated. I’m just very curious about what I saw.
Thank you.

Hillbilly · #2 02-03-2009, 12:50 PM

I am thinking that this might be the plantation that some imaginative people planted back inthe early 80s. Those are Africal oil palms, used to make palm oil that was supposed to solve the high cost and scarcity of peanut oil, until it was announced later that palm oil clogs arteries better then a cork, and in most advanced countries it is prohibited for use in human consumption...Pepperidge Farm had to change some of their recipes...

Anyway, no one here knows if they add it to the "oil" sold to local consumers or not. Which is why I only buy well-known oil from US suppliers...

HB

Keith R · #3 02-03-2009, 12:59 PM

There are still a number of major food producers, such as Unilever, that use palm oil.

Might this be part of someone's plans for producing biofuel from palm oil?

william webster · #4 02-19-2009, 12:03 PM

I drove past this palm grove yesterday. The fronds have been harvested on a large portion of the property, very systematically - just like the planting :-)

Would love to know the history

Chirimoya · #5 02-19-2009, 12:19 PM

Yes, it's an African Palm plantation and processing plant, which appears to be active.

AimHigh · #6 02-19-2009, 12:32 PM

Here are some pictures of what i'm talking about. Enjoy!

Keith R · #7 02-20-2009, 02:36 AM

Thanks for the pics, Aim!

Jon S. · #8 03-03-2009, 05:12 PM

That's the Induspalma plantation in Monte Plata, it's a subsidiary of Mercasid. They also have a large plantation in Hato Mayor. The advantage for them is that the palm oil supposedly has multiple uses. One of my uncles, God bless his soul, was the administrator for the project for years and the youngest of my uncles is the current processing plant manager. They managed to find a way to reduce waste by creating a system that utilizes the entire palm oil plant fruit. This is the gist of it:

1. They crush and process the fruit for oil.
2. They use the remains of the fruit, i.e., the husk, as fuel to power the processing plant.
3. The ashes are used as fertilizer.

I don't know much about it, but I'll ask my uncle, since electromechanical engineering is his area of expertise and he's the plant manager

P.S: They also have large orange groves on sites and the Monte Plata plantation is about 6,600 acres. The Hato Mayor plantation is smaller but they're gearing up for orange production again. It takes 10 years for the palm oil plant to grow enough to bear fruit.

Keith R · #9 03-03-2009, 05:27 PM

Thanks for the info, Jon. Sounds like it might make an interesting (even if short) post for the Green Team blog. Any way I can talk you into it?

P.S. Are you still here in Virginia? If so, stop on by. Would love to see you. I have some Kenyan beer in the frig from my recent Nairobi trip. Not Presidentes, I know, but not half bad either!

Jon S. · #10 03-03-2009, 05:38 PM

I haven't been there since Jan. 2006, but I'm willing to make a short trip there when I got visit my uncle. I'm getting into environmental issues for personal reasons and wouldn't mind doing something for the Green Team, but feel that I am not knowledgeable enough - yet. Give me a few months and I'll help out a little more

.