How the South America conflict benefit or not DR!?

[aegap]

TB, it's a dirty little open secret that most of the high quality batches of many fresh produce and other food stuff grown in the DR are exported to overseas markets..

[Texas Bill]

aegap;

What you say is true about the"ethnic" foodstuffs being sold to Venezuela. And I don't have to go to theFDA website for confirmation of the amount of foodstuffs being imported by the US from the DR.
Needless to say, we also import enormous amounts of foodstuffs from many SA and CA Countries including China, as an afterthought.
Have you ever given thought to the fact that the producers make more off those exports than off the local market, because their prices are, on average, too high for tehaverage consumer here?
If Dominican suppliers were to become truly competative, they would have a ready market to sell in right here in the DR. Instead, they keep their prices higher than necessary for locals and ship the excess to foreign lands.
I just happen to belong to the school of economics that says, satisfy your home grown people before shipping to foreign countries. That way you keep everyone happy and it's the right thing to do, bottom line not excepted. That's called the competiton within your own sphere of influence and provides a better lifestyle for your people.
What about that aspect of international competition?

Texas Bill

[Texas Bill]

Another thing, the farmers need a course in product quality. I get so tired of seeing overgrown and deformed carrots, celery which is not mature, and scallions and other farm products which are barely formed in the marketplaces, Idespair at the real future of the DR to really be competative in the aarea of farm products. The seed bases are getting too old for a viable production and need to be replaced with a fresher batch so that quality can once again become evident in the end product. The practices of the farmers needs to be modernized toward better and more prolific production in order to really take advantage of the arable land available.
I know this is a problem here and is evidenced daily by simply observing what is offered in the marketplace. Rushing the marketing of farm products is the culprit in many cases, but waiting until the product is too old and pethy is yet another.
I don't have the solution except to say that there should be a transition toward quality versus quantity in foodstuffs. If that is achieved, then quantity will naturally follow.
Grandpa's methods can no longer be tolerated if the DR is to become self-sustaining in food production. This is an area too long ignored by the central government and the Agricultural industry in the DR. These elements of Dominican Society need to beginfocussing on that particular problem if they are going to turn a vast amount of arable land into ethanol production, else they find that they have created an unmanagable monster.

Texas Bill

[aegap]

Originally Posted by Texas Bill

I don't have to go to theFDA website for confirmation of the amount of foodstuffs being imported by the US from the DR.

Texas Bill

A few of the fresh produce exported to the United States in the last months, ..

a variety of peppers, including: sweet peppers, hot peppers, Cubbanela peppers , red peppers, green peppers, and chili peppers, bell peppers, Thai chile green pepper you name it. All kinds of peppers Ha ha, now I sound like Bubble Blue..

...Long squash, Indian eggplants, Chinese egg plants, Dominican eggplants, regular eggplant, dry chile, cucumbers, avocados (third largest exporter of), 'Chinese' vegetables, 'baby' tomatoes, regular peas, snow peas, long beans, Papri beans, 'pink' beans, 'french' beans, "valor" beans, guar beans, okras, (organic) bananas,mangoes, dosakai (wtf is that?), cocao, canned coconut milk.

And here's a press release from Goya, ..

Goya’s Tropical Fruit Beverages Offer New Way to Beat Heat!

- All Natural Fruid Drinks, Packed with 100% Vitamin C
- Prepared in the Dominican Republic from natural fruit pulps

-Ten Tantalizing Flavors Bring the Tropics Home


June 2, 2005 - Goya Foods gives consumers a taste of the Tropics with its new, Tropical Fruit Beverage line. These refreshing drinks are made with all natural fruit pulp, contain 100% vitamin C and are free of artificial ingredients. Lighter in taste than traditional nectars, Goya’s Tropical Fruit Drinks come in 10 exotic flavors including: Passion Fruit, Papaya, Guava, Mango, Barbados Cherry, Lemon, Passion Fruit/Papaya Blend, Passion Fruit/Pineapple Blend, Tamarind, and Guanabana.
"Goya feels the market is ready for this product line, which appeals to all consumers and meets our high standards for quality and authenticity." relates Goya Vice President of Marketing, Mr. Conrad Colon. Goya also hopes to introduce consumers to healthy, native fruits that they may not have yet experienced. "Our Barbados Cherry drink for example, has a very high concentration of vitamin C, a single 8 oz. serving contains 470% of the recommended daily dose," continued Mr. Colon.
Festive labels distinguish these 16 oz. bottles which are packed in cases of 12 to facilitate distribution. Goya’s Tropical Fruit Beverages will be launched nationally this month and are a natural compliment to its extensive beverage line.

[A.Hidalgo]

Those with better knowledge of DR-CAFTA, has it benefited the Dominican consumer viz-a-viz the exporting of Dominican items?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Texas Bill

Grandpa's methods can no longer be tolerated if the DR is to become self-sustaining in food production.

Texas Bill, Grandpa's methods are proving out to be the most sustainable of all and it delivers the best quality for the most appropriate price. It is the mass agribusiness that is proving out not to be sustainable.

Make friends with a farmer ... a vegetable farmer. Make sure you know what is going into the food that you put into your mouth, help the farmer to develop and he/she will help you eat the freshest and most beautiful products. Stay in season, eat in season and eat what people produce locally.

Yes aegap, I watch what is imported on more or less a weekly basis. Also the oasis reports of what is rejected on a regular basis. The list that you are quoting is mostly made up of frankenfoods. For heavens sake .. don't eat anything that won't rot naturally if left alone! If it does not rot, it is not meant to be food but is simply masquerading as edible stuff.

[Texas Bill]

. Hidalgo AND aegap;

I'm not familiar with whether or not DR-CAFTA has benefited the average Dominican or not. What I am seeing is that it has taken a US Company, with a plant in the DR to bring some NEW producrts to this country. aegap just proved that by his post.
This is what I have been saying all along, is that the mindset of the average DR company is one of archaic marketing, refusal to change to more modern methods and to produce a quality merchadise while increasing their profit margin after a brief period of readjustment that will be necessary.
I'm NOT AGAINST the DR seeking additional markets for their products, nor am I against any of the producers of the foodstuffs made available to the local marketplace. What I AM AGAINST is the complacency with which those producers treat their captive clientele and take advantage of their ignorance of something better just because they want to maintain the Status Quo and their so-called leadership in the realm of agricultural products.
Goya is slowly building a better mousetrap, though the companies of JaJa, Famosa, Victorina and the like just don't realize it yet, occupied as they are with the current "bottom line". They haven't looked to the future in such a very long time and if they don't their days are numbered if they don't start doing so. They MUST learn that competition isn't all about pricing; it entails the manufacturing of a better quality product at the same price, or lower, than their competitor. I am saying that they are currently producing a shoddy product and are at the same time cheating their citizens with the "appearence" of a good nutritional product at a "fair" price.
Are you still convinced that your counter commentary is on that track??

Texas Bill

[fightfish]

I appreciate the old marketplace as having a few overgrown carrots, to me, seems natural and genetically sound. Please correct me if I´m wrong, but seeing fruits and veggies here in the DR, unperfect and strange, makes me think I'm getting a natural product.

[Texas Bill]

I suppose that I'm really not getting my point across, which is the simple fact that there is no standard from which the farmer, or producer of farm products isbrought to face the proposition of producing a vegetable or fruit that is more marketable and of a better quality and appearance through the modernization of seed used and the methods of production.
Just simply go to the supermercado, or local veggie market and compare thepackaged products with those having the soil still evident and you'll see my point, maybe. It is probably that I am just spoiled by the comparison I make to those same products that I remember from the States.
I'll still eat the products here, but can only wish that looked and tasted better without those rooty and stringy characteristics so prevelent.

Texas Bill

[fightfish]

I guess in my continuing travels that I have gotten used to taking what I get, sans packaging....I like it that way, not being marketed to, just eating waht is available and enjoying the differences of the local flavor. But I understand your point I think, being that how can (or why can they not) present their product in a more marketable way. The answer is that their market isn´t international, and so, why bother? In all of the countries I travel, only a U.S. supermarket has fruits and veggies from 20 different other countries. I prefer what is in season to be what I eat, but that´s just me. I love the no packaging thing however!