President Luis Abinader and Agriculture Minister Limber Cruz Lopez visited the Bonao Experimental Rice Farm in Juma to celebrate the start of the spring rice harvest. President Abinader spoke on how the Dominican Republic is self-sufficient in this staple and even has a surplus.
The crop produces over RD$42 billion and provides for 300,000 direct jobs.
In Juma, for years Taiwan and Dominican food and agriculture technicians worked to develop new rice varieties that make possible shorter stems, higher yields and more disease resistant crops. Currently Juma 57 and Juma 58 rice is cooked in most Dominican and Haitian households. A new variety that is more resistant to weed killers is currently in the last stages of development.
President Abinader mentioned Chinese (Taipei) Dr. Yin Tieh Hsieh and Dr. Federico Cuevas for their guidance in developing the varieties of race that feed the Dominican Republic.
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El Caribe
25 April 2022