Constanza prepares for exports

[NewsWhore]

Farmers in the Constanza Valley, high in the central mountains, are returning to the garlic crops they pretty much abandoned in 2003, when the area used for cultivating the crop fell from 866 hectares to 200 hectares. Recently, the area dedicated to the crop has risen to slightly over 400 hectares. There is abundant financing for the crop, and Listin Diario says that as much as RD$800 million is available to farmers in Constanza and Tireo. According to sources in the valley, between 466 and 533 hectares of garlic will be planted this season. Garlic is not cheap to cultivate. The estimated cost of a crop is RD$180,000 per acre, and problems associated with obtaining selected seeds in China are also linked to the drop in production. Production has been stimulated by mortgaging the crop through commercial banks and government policies that help the growers to import garlic to cover any shortfalls in the national crop. In a similar manner, horticulturists in the valley are going into the use of greenhouses to produce specialty vegetables for consumers throughout the Caribbean and Central America. The combined efforts of local growers, exporters and the Ministry of Agriculture are helping to turn the valley into an important supplier of foodstuffs to the neighboring islands.

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