Coffee producers say that the November rains have wiped out many rural roads, affecting the transport of the crop to collection sites. The executive director of the Dominican Coffee Institute (Indocafe) Leonidas Batista Diaz said: “More than damaging the plantation, the damage was to the roads and to the infrastructure in the coffee zones.”
He said coffee itself was not affected given that it is produced in the mountains where the waters drain well. But mudslides and falling trees considerably damaged the rural roads. Some of the worst damages were in San Juan de la Maguana, where the coffee was ripe for picking. Access to many plantations is very difficult now.
Diario Libre shares Indocafe stats on coffee production. Around 28,000 producers and 1,618,058.74 tareas (1 tarea = 625 sq. meters) land planted with coffee. Between 2021-2022 green coffee production was around 430,628 quintals, higher than the 2020-2021 season. Exports went from US$5,000,000 in 2020 to US$65,000,000 in 2022.
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Diario Libre
Hoy
30 November 2023