Farming disaster?

What kind of misfortune? The situation is quite dire of course. Crops are drowned and prices will rise and there is damage to farmland of course and river bank erosion and so on, but what dire prediction of impending misfortune?

Absolutely! Over half the plantain crops in the Cibao were wiped out. Probably close to that of the banana crop. Some important rice lands were flooded, but a lot of farmers had not yet planted their crops.
In the eastern Cibao, Bajos de Yuna, they have had two important fllods nearly back to back. That is basically a plantain and rice area. Both suffered severely.

In the South, the destruction of dikes, siphons, and canals destroyed a lot of crops, and there has been some delay in fixing the irrigation systems that were destroyed.
For example in Padre de las Casas, all the green houses were destroyed, and this affected much of the vegetable crops we enjoy, like peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, and other goodies....but these items do not go on the average Dominican table...

As for critical shortages? No, I do not think so. There have been some important price increases since Olga and often times it comes to a choose your veggie choice....Tomatoes at $50, no thanks...

HB

Not critical starvation shortages, no. But whopping price increases to go along with already existing price increases. The basic unit of pan de agua is now 5 pesos (used to be 3). My bakers today: flauta (French bread) used to be 22 now 25, integral rolls used to be 3 now 4 pesos. Tomatoes have soared, broccoli more expensive. It will be harder for Dominicans with low incomes to put food on the table for sure. That's why they get sooooooo teed off when they see Congress and municipalities awarding themselves such exorbitant salary/expenses rises from their tax money. And if it isn't going there it's going into that other hole in the ground, the Metro. 2008 will be a difficult year for many Dominicans. And malnutrition will probably increase.

I can tell you that a good portion of the farmland in Las Barias and neighboring campos (in peravia province) got trashed by TS Noel. Perhaps about 30-40% of the farmland was flooded by the Nizao river and will be unusable for farming for quite some time. The Nizao river destroyed some farms, eroded the river bank and left behind rocks, sand and debris on a good portion of many farms. Most farmers in the area lost their crops and investments (all the money they had). Many farmers of this area are demoralized and broke. My uncle lost about 100 tareas of onions. When I spoke with him, he told me that he owed the bank money, his land was ruined and he lacked the will at age 60 to continue farming. Las Barias and neighboring campos produce a variety of veggies: onions, green peppers, cucumbers, papayas, plantains, bananas, ca?a, yucca, rice, beans and tomatoes (perhaps others veggies too but this is what I've actually seen being grown in the area). Cutting the useable farmland by almost half, in this area alone, will certainly cause a price increase in the general area. Although this is a very small farming area it is representative of most farming communities in the south. I would have to agree that plenty of hardship, food shortages and price increase are in our near future.

NotLurking

Banana producers in the Cibao estimates that approx 9,000 acres of banana fields were flooded and this will cause an estimated $40 million in lost exports. In addition to this, approximately 6,000 acres of plantain fields were ruined.
This is an agricultural disaster.

Don't expect any famine to break out from it...
The divulged "devastation" by local growers is more focus on crops aimed for export than actual local consumption. The local availability of crops is not interrupted but prices have gone up since demand is on par to pre-flooding levels and supply is not there yet.
I must remind many of you that local crops, for local consumption are generally done in separated grounds and niches. Most of local consumed goods are "Burreados" to the city by merchants from the steep conucos and sembradios from the mountains, unlike the top quality export crops that are nursed in most of the affected valleys.

The recent change by Haitian authorities regarding the importation of Domican eggs and chickens, will however fill just perfect to over-supply the gap of crops that just became out of reach to the shallow pockets of low and middle class homes.

The local crops aimed to the DR consumers is not going to go tail spin anytime soon, but the export of crops that made the region's economy balance an stabilizing factor will created further shrinks to growth.

I must also make it a point to remind you that after Hurricane's David devastation the crops suffered all over the country with almost 85% destruction of it. For all that, local crops and sembradios got back within months and prices adjusted accordingly to the pre-levels.

Dominican grower's associations tend to over-blow damages in order to get money from the gov and low or no interest credit from the Banks to get them to their feet...

If anything, the soil is now even better to seed than before the flooding took place.

Rivers are rich in deposits, most notably minerals and salts...

PICHARDO said:

Dominican grower's associations tend to over-blow damages in order to get money from the gov and low or no interest credit from the Banks to get them to their feet...

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In this case for at least three growers associations and for the DR's biggest export crop, this generalization does not hold true.

PICHARDO said:

If anything, the soil is now even better to seed than before the flooding took place.Rivers are rich in deposits, most notably minerals and salts...

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The topsoil is washed away in many areas. The irrigation systems are washed away in many fields. The paddies are washed away in rice fields. So this generalization does not hold true in this instance either. There is a big job of re-establishing the agricultural lands before 'quickly' seeding or planting.

Chris said:

In this case for at least three growers associations and for the DR's biggest export crop, this generalization does not hold true.

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The fact I must tell you it that even those growers that generally don't get funds from the gov for emergencies like the one indicated, do however enjoy tax free incentives to recap their losses and bring their sembradios to pre-devastation levels.

Chris said:

The topsoil is washed away in many areas. The irrigation systems are washed away in many fields. The paddies are washed away in rice fields. So this generalization does not hold true in this instance either. There is a big job of re-establishing the agricultural lands before 'quickly' seeding or planting.

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The top soil is only washed away in conditions where the sembradios where located right about the natural limits of the rivers and irrigation channels.
The sembradios which cater to the export niche are not affected as much as cooperatives, mostly because they are the owners of much of the flat lands and Cooperatives are the ones with the rolling hills for the norm...

However, that there are instances where this won't hold water is not questioned, but for the most part it applies to the majority of affected fields.

Picardo, I really don't know what you are talking about.

Up to this point I have not found one farmer that is happy about the 'fertile soil' that the river dumped on the lands.

Up to this point I have not found one cooperative that is happy about having to rehabilitate their own and their members' fields.

Up to this point I have not found one producer, whether they have flat land or rolling hills, that is happy about the condition of the topsoil.

Up to this point, I have not spoken to one cooperative that makes a distinction between hilly land and flat land. Usually this is defined by crop, and not by who owns what. I really don't understand your point. A large portion of the cost to rehabilitate fields is the crop. Fruit trees have drowned. Producers need to buy new ones from Costa Rica where they are laboratory cloned.

Up to this point, I have not found one cooperative happy about tax incentives, whether registered a zona franca or not. They say this is going to cost a lot of money, tax incentives don't register a blip on the charts.

If you ask any Dominican if he's happy about anything, he sure will say not about one single thing is O.K.!!!

Let me say this clear: The farm land above the natural river bed and irrigation systems was left UNTOUCHED!!!

Top soils were not eroded from the flat fertile lands!!!!!!!!!!! Not true!!!!! Only rolling hills and flat land "directly" used within the natural (claimed land from the low river banks) reclaimed by the currents shows signs of top soil erosion, but then, it wasn't farming soil to begin with; this land was part of the natural rivers that was taken...

The fertile flat lands that are further out but still flooded from the spill of the rivers that were blocked in their natural run and irrigation systems, got de facto "mineralized" by this same water, as the heavier sediments and silica deposits, were blocked by the already present vegetation and crops.

I studied agronomy in my youth, as my family owned several rice paddies and other crops, so I cant tell you from experience that the flooding of the lands will be more of a long term blessing than anything else.
The types of "Damages" reported as substantial, are the ones that call for crops to be replaced along irrigation systems, tools, sheds, etc... Nothing more!

All this said, there are several places that suffered heavy erosion and rocky sediment from the river's path. But to account all damages as "total" is inane to say just a bit...

Like I said: Most damages incurred were felt most by niches aimed at exporting high quality crops to the external market, not the local!
The local market only gets to see the crops that don't meet the quality standards to export and are dumped in the local market.

That's why there's such of a shortage of crops today, but only because the dumped crops were a good size of the local consumption market...

That tells you that the best quality of crops rarely makes it to the local market...

Chris said:

Picardo, I really don't know what you are talking about.

Up to this point I have not found one farmer that is happy about the 'fertile soil' that the river dumped on the lands.

Up to this point I have not found one cooperative that is happy about having to rehabilitate their own and their members' fields.

Up to this point I have not found one producer, whether they have flat land or rolling hills, that is happy about the condition of the topsoil.

Up to this point, I have not spoken to one cooperative that makes a distinction between hilly land and flat land. Usually this is defined by crop, and not by who owns what. I really don't understand your point. A large portion of the cost to rehabilitate fields is the crop. Fruit trees have drowned. Producers need to buy new ones from Costa Rica where they are laboratory cloned.

Up to this point, I have not found one cooperative happy about tax incentives, whether registered a zona franca or not. They say this is going to cost a lot of money, tax incentives don't register a blip on the charts.

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Banana producers get a break
Dominican banana producers received the financing they were promised by President Leonel Fernandez, which will help the sector to recover on a large scale. The financing will be processed through Banco Agricola and is for an initial RD$400 million at a 6% annual interest rate. Fernandez made the promise to the sector after banana plantations in the north and northeast were devastated by Tropical Storm Olga and Noel and the opening of the Tavera dam floodgates. Dominican Banana Producers Association president Eddy Cabrera asked the government to build special 100km walls to contain the flooding of the North Yaque River, between Santiago and Montecristi. Cabrera, along with other representatives from the sector, said that if nothing is done, flooding would recur and keep causing problems. Cabrera explained that the sector has lost 78,000 acres of bananas, leading to concerns about the effect on the DR's banana exports, and the sector provides 35,000 jobs in the northeastern region. Cabrera, quoted in Hoy, claims that the sector has lost RD$900 million and would produce just 4.5 million 18.14kg boxes of bananas this year. Former Banana Association president Salvador Estevez says that the RD$900 million in losses doesn't include the RD$750 million in lost export revenues. DR1


Some of the published ones, many still are getting their tax incentives as well as loans of this kind via the Banco Agricola and other gov institutions...

OK, from today's DR1 news ...

The Banana Grower's Association reported that [FONT=Verdana, Arial]78,000 tareas of land (a little over 3,000 hectares) were affected by the floodwaters. [/FONT]