Dominican Agriculture Ministry and cassava sector agree on measures to boost production

The Ministry of Agriculture and representatives of the bitter cassava and casabe production chain agreed on measures to strengthen national production, organize planting and improve marketing conditions while protecting producers’ profitability and ensuring market supply.

The agreements were reached during a meeting led by Agriculture Minister Francisco Oliverio Espaillat, with producers, associations, processors and marketers from the sector, as well as senators and provincial authorities from Dajabón and Santiago Rodríguez.

Espaillat emphasized the need to balance production with market demand to prevent both oversupply, which could hurt producers, and shortages that could affect consumers. “We cannot allow either an abundance that destroys producers, or a scarcity that affects consumers. It’s a balance,” the minister said.

The parties agreed to improve production planning, monitor planting cycles and strengthen mechanisms to provide greater stability to bitter cassava marketing.

More than 40,000 tareas under cultivation

According to Pedro González Toribio, general secretary of the Cassava Producers Association, more than 40,000 tareas, equivalent to about 14,000 acres, are currently planted with bitter cassava in Santiago Rodríguez and Dajabón, at different stages of development.

Additional plantations in Santiago, Cotuí and Montecristi demonstrate the crop’s expansion and potential to supply raw material for casabe and other products.

The meeting also identified financing and equipment needs, with the ministry committing to provide technical assistance and support efforts to improve productivity and reduce costs.

Producers will discuss the proposals within their organizations before presenting a consensus position to the ministry. Another meeting is expected in the coming weeks to assess progress and continue the joint agenda.