Loma Quita Espuela Foundation and Hacienda Ambrosia have signed an agreement to guarantee the biodiversity of a 72 square kilometer ecosystem in the northeast of the country, as featured in Acento. Jesus Moreno Portalatín signed for Loma Quita Espuela and Daniel Dalet Casals for Hacienda Ambrosia.
Loma Quita Espuela is a protected area under the care of the foundation created by Alfonso Moreno of Bon ice cream. It seeks to preserve the endemic flora and fauna of the mountain that is a vital source of river water for the provinces of María Trinidad Sanchez and Duarte. The area is home to 74 species of birds, some of which are vunerable, such as the Bicknell Parakeet and Thrush. Hacienda Ambrosia is a cacao plantation for export started by the Grupo Vitienes.
Hacienda Ambrosia will support with financial resources, special programs, time, personnel and community involvement, the conservation work developed since 1992 by the Quita Espuela Foundation in charge of the scientific reserve that integrates the Quita Espuela, Loma Vieja, El Quemado, La Canela and Firme Los Sabrosos mountains.
Likewise, the regenerative agriculture initiative will keep free from farming or urbanization some 1,100 hectares, equivalent to 50% of its surface area. The area is now for forest conservation and the protection of the scientific reserve, according to the document signed by Moreno Portalatín and Dalet Casals.
The Loma Quita Espuela Scientific Reserve is home to four species of endemic fish and nine species of amphibians, seven of which are unique to the region and threatened, including the northern creek frog, Hispaniolan green frog and giant tree frog. It is also home to 18 kinds of reptiles and terrestrial mammals such as the hutia and the solenodon, currently in danger of extinction.
Its privileged flora is composed of 639 species, 74 of which are endemic, among them the palo de vela and Mora abbottii trees, as well as the Coccothrinax montana and Roystonea hipaniolana (royal palm) palms.
The environmental protection efforts have ensured that Quita Espuela mountain continue to have one of the best rain producing cloud forests in the country. It is the source of the main water streams of the northern mountain range. It is a source of water for the aqueducts and irrigation canals of Salcedo, San Francisco de Macorís, Pimentel and Nagua, among others.
The Jaya, Cuaba, Cuevas, Nagua, Los Bracitos, Quebrada Prieta, Lagunita, El Arroyazo, Las Cañas, Los Guineos, Brazo Grande and Piedra Blanca rivers originate in Quita Espuela, thus its importance for water for farm irrigation and human consumption.
Moreno Portalatín highlighted the importance, for the conservation of the scientific reserve, of the cooperation model integrated by a non-governmental organization (Fundación Loma Quita Espuela), a private company (Hacienda Ambrosia) and the Dominican state (Dirección General de Parques).
“The three sectors are much more efficient in meeting our objectives. Ambrosia’s model is to be a profitable and sustainable business; the government’s objective is to enforce the law, create jobs and promote the prosperity of the citizens; while the Loma Quita Espuela Foundation, the NGO, is an ally whose forte is the co-administration of a public protected area, in permanent relationship with the communities,” he highlighted.
Hacienda Ambrosia plants cacao, coconut and bananas through multicultural systems with organic green cover instead of chemical fertilizers and herbicides. “This is very important, because 56% of the planet’s soils are totally collapsed by aggressive agriculture. We have to disarm that kind of agriculture and promote regenerative agriculture, as Hacienda Ambrosia is doing,” added Moreno Portalatín.
He also welcomed Hacienda Ambrosia’s willingness to set aside 50% of its land for forest preservation.
“This private reserve, with its 1,100 uncultivated hectares, with its ravines and mountains, will greatly benefit the ecosystem, as it adds forest mass to the already existing public reserve. We applaud this initiative,” said Moreno Portalatín.
Located in the community of Los Memisos, in Nagua, Hacienda Ambrosia has 1,100 hectares planted with coconut, cocoa and bananas for local and foreign marketing, with regenerative agriculture techniques such as intercropping, drip fertigation and environmental protection.
Dalet Casals, its director, explained that regenerative agriculture provides the area’s ecosystem with important benefits: natural pest control, wind protection and water flow regulation.
“Our way of cultivating soils allows the development of biodiversity, soil regeneration and soil conservation, without interrupting the nitrogen and carbon cycles, which helps us reduce climate change,” he explained.
He added that regenerative agriculture is an alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Regenerative agriculture uses organic solutions that provide important nutrients to the ecosystem.
Dalet Casals said that Hacienda Ambrosia’s products have USDA Organics and Fair Trade Sustainability Alliance (FairTSA) certifications for organic crops and fair trade.
He emphasized that the sustainable initiative not only promotes the protection of natural resources and the fight against climate change, but also the many jobs created. The farm employs around 350 workers, both permanent and temporary, 80 of whom are women.
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Acento
8 June 2022