The Yaque del Sur is the largest watershed in the South of the Dominican Republic. Its tributaries, the San Juan, Mijo and Los Baos rivers, are severely impacted by deforestation spilling over from Haiti. Late last week, President Luis Abinader renewed the agreement with the NGO Sur Futuro for the management of the entire watershed system. Sur Futuro is chaired by Melba Segura, the widow of Don Alejandro Grullon, the founder of Banco Popular.
The government renewed the Yaque del Sur river basin management plan with Sur Futuro for another 10 years by Decree 692-21. The plan calls for social work with the communities, reforestation, ecological restoration, agroforestry programs and climate change actions.
President Abinader stressed that the measures promoted by the government seek to protect the high areas that feed the Sabana Yegua, Sabaneta, and soon Monte Grande dams, to also improve the water supply for farming, the human population and to mitigate the impact on the environment.
The President said that Sur Futuro has been working for years and adjusting its actions to the new situations that arise. The NGO has accumulated extensive experience in watershed management and sustainable land management and climate change adaptation practices. Abinader spoke of the program as an example of a successful public private partnership.
In the new updated master plan, Sur Futuro unfolds the program to substitute annual crops for fruit trees, foster more agroforestry and vegetables in greenhouses, and substitute crops with high water demand (such as rice) for others that are less demanding of water.
The construction of wells and the installation of solar pumps will also be carried out, drip and micro-sprinkler irrigation system will be installed. Mini-ponds, reservoirs and irrigation systems will also be built.
In addition to all this, President Abinader announced sustainable schools will be built. Agro-industrial processors of fruits and vegetables will be developed to add value.
Likewise, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Eulalio Ramírez announced an agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and Sur Futuro to develop coffee and fruit growing for the production of 3,200,000 avocado, coconut, coffee, mango, lime trees over the next two years, with an investment of RD$219 million.
Another important action of the plan is the construction of eco-friendly infrastructure such as windmills and wells run by solar power. Yet another part of the process that will literally save the water supply for over a million and a half people is social work to convince people who live in the watersheds to change their use of the land.
Sur Futuro encourages greenhouse agriculture, forestry, fruit trees, and the use of modern agricultural techniques such as micro sprays and drip irrigation.
The Valley of San Juan, formerly a very prosperous region, has been hit by a seven-year long dry spell that has severely limited harvests. Poverty in the region is over 50% higher than the national average, and thousands are moving to other provinces.
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Presidencia
6 December 2021