StoDgo-Samana Highway Palm trees question

A

AimHigh

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Jan 22, 2009
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San Antonio, Texas, United States
On my recent trip to the DR I took the new Santo Domingo ? Samana Highway (Juan Pablo II) and something that I saw caught my attention. I noticed that the road cuts through a HUGE farm of palm trees which are planted in order. They were thousand of palm trees that stretched for least 10km and by the way they were planted you would tell they were not wild palm trees.

Does anyone have any information about that property, who owns it, the history of it and what they do with the trees? Any information, reference or links would be appreciated. I?m just very curious about what I saw.
Thank you.
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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I am thinking that this might be the plantation that some imaginative people planted back inthe early 80s. Those are Africal oil palms, used to make palm oil that was supposed to solve the high cost and scarcity of peanut oil, until it was announced later that palm oil clogs arteries better then a cork, and in most advanced countries it is prohibited for use in human consumption...Pepperidge Farm had to change some of their recipes...

Anyway, no one here knows if they add it to the "oil" sold to local consumers or not. Which is why I only buy well-known oil from US suppliers...

HB
 
Keith R

Keith R

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Jan 1, 2002
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There are still a number of major food producers, such as Unilever, that use palm oil.

Might this be part of someone's plans for producing biofuel from palm oil?
 
W

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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I drove past this palm grove yesterday. The fronds have been harvested on a large portion of the property, very systematically - just like the planting :)

Would love to know the history
 
C

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Yes, it's an African Palm plantation and processing plant, which appears to be active.
 
A

AimHigh

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Jan 22, 2009
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Here are some pictures of what i'm talking about. Enjoy!

palm2jd6.jpg


palm1ad6.jpg
 
J

Jon S.

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Jan 25, 2003
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That's the Induspalma plantation in Monte Plata, it's a subsidiary of Mercasid. They also have a large plantation in Hato Mayor. The advantage for them is that the palm oil supposedly has multiple uses. One of my uncles, God bless his soul, was the administrator for the project for years and the youngest of my uncles is the current processing plant manager. They managed to find a way to reduce waste by creating a system that utilizes the entire palm oil plant fruit. This is the gist of it:

1. They crush and process the fruit for oil.
2. They use the remains of the fruit, i.e., the husk, as fuel to power the processing plant.
3. The ashes are used as fertilizer.

I don't know much about it, but I'll ask my uncle, since electromechanical engineering is his area of expertise and he's the plant manager :p

P.S: They also have large orange groves on sites and the Monte Plata plantation is about 6,600 acres. The Hato Mayor plantation is smaller but they're gearing up for orange production again. It takes 10 years for the palm oil plant to grow enough to bear fruit.
 
Keith R

Keith R

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Jan 1, 2002
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Thanks for the info, Jon. Sounds like it might make an interesting (even if short) post for the Green Team blog. Any way I can talk you into it? :cheeky:

P.S. Are you still here in Virginia? If so, stop on by. Would love to see you. I have some Kenyan beer in the frig from my recent Nairobi trip. Not Presidentes, I know, but not half bad either!
 
J

Jon S.

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Jan 25, 2003
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I haven't been there since Jan. 2006, but I'm willing to make a short trip there when I got visit my uncle. I'm getting into environmental issues for personal reasons and wouldn't mind doing something for the Green Team, but feel that I am not knowledgeable enough - yet. Give me a few months and I'll help out a little more ;) .
 
J

Jon S.

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Jan 25, 2003
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By the by, I have been in Miami since 2006, but back in late January went to NYC and had to stop in Rosslyn on the way to Reagan National to meet up with a friend. Maybe I'll head there this summer and take you up on the offer for a few beers....
 
J

juanita

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Apr 22, 2004
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That was then, this is now! Such a sad view; kilometers and kilometers of dead palm trees, looks and feel like a cemetery.

4vheo8.jpg

346nf4j.jpg

2hfqlxt.jpg

33m3fr5.jpg


Any idea what happened?
 
NALs

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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All those trees are owned by Induspalma (subsidiary of Mercasid), the largest African Palm oil producer in the Caribbean and, obviously, owner of the largest African Palm plantations, many of which the Saman? highway cuts through. There are more in Hato Mayor. Those trees are grown for their seeds, which produces a oil that is used in the production of vegetable oil, soap, and some other industrialized stuffs produced in the country.

They were dried and killed to be replaced with a new crop since the DR had no African Palm plantations until the 1980s and yields for such trees taper off considerably after 30 or so years.

Don't worry about it, those trees are not native to the island and its all one big business. They'll be replaced with a new generation.
 
CG

CG

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Sep 16, 2004
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Correct and Done. Next time you drive by, look between the dead ones and you'll see the newly planted palms already growing.
 
W

wrecksum

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Sep 27, 2010
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It's quite an impressive size driving through and it's perfectly visible on google earth as well.Some square miles I'd reckon.

@Keith R
Tusker Malt by any chance? My favourite.
 
S

sweetdbt

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Sep 17, 2004
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I was wondering what the story was on those palms as well. Glad to hear there is a logical explaination. Anyone know what will be done with the old, dead palms? Is the wood usable?
 
P

peep2

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Oct 24, 2004
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I have driven the Samana Highway a few times and was concerned about those long stretches of dead palm trees. I am glad to learn the explanation. The last time I flew into SDQ our route took us from the north coast essentially down the Samana Highway and straight in to a south landing at the airport. The aerial view of the plantation was impressive and interesting. Most of it is given over to mature planting but large areas are grey and other large areas showing new growth which from the air might be mistaken for the shorter plantain trees. It is clearly a large scale industrial growing operation and from the air appears to be well thought out and well managed. I do wonder what they do with all those tree trunks.
 
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