The director of the Instituto Nacional del Tabaco, agronomist Gaspar Polanco confirmed there has been an overproduction of tobacco in the DR. He said that the excellent prices farmers were paid for their crops in 1996-1997 lured farmers of other crops to switch to planting tobacco. While the 1996-1997 harvest was 591,000 quintals, the 1997-1998 harvest surpasses 900,000 quintals. He explained that last year there were 92 factories, today there are 108. Agronomist Polanco says there is a glut of the crop. The Instituto Nacional del Tabaco is a dependency of the Ministry of Agriculture. Polanco says that the government is taking measures, such as the restriction of credit, to impede that tobacco be planted outside of the zones that are most adequate for this crop. In 1986 some 242,717 tareas (629 square meters to the tarea) were planted with tobacco. In 1998, some 487,696 tareas were planted.
