El Caribe reports that drought earlier this year followed by natural disasters and now the onset of winter has affected the plantain crop and this has translated into high prices. A single plantain now costs between RD$8 and RD$19.24, depending where it is bought and some supermarkets are even selling them by the pound, at RD$30 a pound, which is most unusual.
Usually the number of plantains available decreases from December to February, due to the colder weather, but this year it is worse than usual due to the drought earlier in the year and tropical storm Isaac and Hurricane Sandy.
70% of the plantains are grown in what is known as the ‘Central Cibao Triangle” (Salcedo, Licey al Medio, Moca, La Vega) and the rest are produced in Barahona (from Canoa, Jaquimeyes and Vicente Noble) and the northwest.
Luis Bonilla from the Association of Banana Producers (Adobanano) said that the farms are selling them at RD$3.5 per unit which he thinks is reasonable, and he says that the price in the shops should be around RD$10, but not any higher than that.
Agriculture Minister Luis Ramon Rodriguez stated that the government did not authorize the importation of 12 million plantains from Central America, as claimed by former PRD Agriculture Minister Eligio Jaquez. Rodriguez went on to say that in the country, six million plantains were eaten each day but that due to the weather, more than 207,000 tareas of plantains had been lost and this had led to the increase in price and that the supermarkets were turning to imports from Central America, which were subject to a 20% tariff.
www.elcaribe.com.do/2012/12/11/llegada-del-frio-calienta-precio-platano