Dominican mango glut as foreign market sputters

Santo Domingo .– Mango producers in the Dominican Republic estimate that they are having losses close to RD$400 million during 2021 because the fruit stays on the trees.

The reason, they explain, is the lack of a market and the absence of a plant that allows them to process them in the country.

They say they have more than 6,000 hectares planted with mangoes in organized plantations of more than 1,700 farm owners. “This indicates that we have more than 2,400,000 trees planted, which means a production that is not available for export due to the packing capacity we have installed,” said Andrés Onésimo Mejía Báez, former president of the Banileja Association of Mango Producers (Abapromango).

On behalf of the producers, Mejía told Diario Libre that 60% of the number of trees planted is of the Keith variety, which produces mangoes to export 2,400 containers and only 1,000 are being sent abroad.

The other part stays on the farms, rotting on the ground.

“This situation indicates that, if urgent measures are not taken, all mango producers will go bankrupt. This year was the best harvest that has ever occurred, compared to previous years.”