Santo Domingo, DR.
The Dominican Coffee Institute (Indocafé), the Jarabacoa Coffee Growers Association (Ascaja), and the Municipal Council for the Administration of Mining Funds will promote the expansion of 400 areas (300,400 square yards) of coffee in the communities of Paso Bajito and Hatillo to contribute to the strengthening of production and strengthen the reforestation process in the area.
Through an inter-institutional collaboration agreement, signed by the executive director of Indocafé, Leónidas Batista Díaz, the president of the Municipal Council, Rafael Paulino, and the president of Ascaja, Reyes Hernández, this proposal will be implemented through the planting of coffee and forestry plants, preferably timber and fruit trees.
The agreement emphasizes supporting coffee producers in the area because their forests are vital in the generation of water that feeds the upper basin of the Jimenoa River, the main tributary of the Yaque el Norte River.
Likewise, in the case of Hatillo, it seeks to increase the flow of its streams and ravines, in addition to supporting the production of coffee and timber from these farms to contribute to the reduction of poverty of its inhabitants, protect the coffee forest as a generator of water, flora, and fauna.
Coffee represents one of the most significant agricultural production activities for the municipality of Jarabacoa due to its economic, social, and sustainability of renewable natural resources.
The communities of Paso Bajito and Hatillo, areas proposed for the project’s development, belong to the municipality of Jarabacoa in the province of La Vega and have a special microclimate for coffee production.
The project includes the construction of a nursery for the production of coffee plants and other species to be used in agroforestry and reforestation, which will contribute to the sustainable development of coffee growing through the promotion, renovation, and rehabilitation of coffee plantations, as it will offer coffee and shade plants in appropriate physiological and quality conditions.
Objectives
Among the objectives are to produce coffee plants with the appropriate technical criteria that meet the requirements of physiological development in terms of height, stem thickness, acclimatization, and health to promote, renew and rehabilitate coffee plantations of the producers to be benefited.
The project seeks to directly impact coffee growers since its development will be sustainable and directly impact the growers, their families, and the economy of the communities.