The Dominican Republic is a leading exporter of Hass variety avocados to the United States. But environmentalists are warning of the possible negative impacts of planting the fruit trees in protected areas, including the very environmentally fragile Bahoruco Nacional Park.
Now the new Environment Minister Angel Estevez supports the idea of the government’s plan to use avocado trees to reforest area lands. But environmentalists point out that the planting of Hass variety avocado trees must not be planted in hilly or mountainous terrain where many rivers originate, says Jose Martinez, a farming specialist.
The Ministry of Agriculture is also in favor of the avocado plantations. Government estimates indicate that 25% of the national production is of Hass variety. Large plantations are located in Los Arroyos, in Pedernales on the border with Haiti. It is estimated that an area of 15,000 tareas of avocados is inside the Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco. The company Productores de Pedernales has denied it is causing environmental damage, arguing that avocado trees provide important forest cover. His opinion is backed by Jose Manuel Mateo, coordinator of the Natural Sciences and Environment Commission of the Academy of Sciences, as reported in Diario Libre.
“A plantation of avocados with a density of 500 trees per hectare, in full production at the age of five years or more, can demand on average 800 cubic meters of water a week per hectare. Plantations that are two to five years old demand 350 to 500 cubic meters,” said Martinez stressing the high water demand of the commercial plantations. He highlighted that Mexico and Chile are suffering the effects of the drying up of rivers and water scarcity.
But the new Agriculture Minister, Osmar Benitez, is in agreement with reforesting with commercial avocado trees. According to Benitez: “It is a mistake to try to sell to the population the idea that mountain agriculture can not be done, there are examples of prudent mountain agriculture using sustainable resource management practices.”
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Diario Libre
13 September 2018
