In the Dominican Republic there are 2.7 million tareas dedicated to cocoa cultivation, of which 600,000 belong to 12,000 small producers affiliated to the Confederation of Dominican Cocoa Growers (Conacado).
“Conacado, right now, represents 25% of exports, which means that the average of our exports is around 15,000 tons,” said Isidoro de la Rosa, executive director of Conacado.
He said that nationally, around 72,000 tons are exported, which translates into some US$200 million each year.
He added that they are in the process of increasing the productivity of the cocoa sector, since small producers do not have the necessary resources to give the proper treatment to the plantation.
“It is more or less 400 kilos per hectare, which is about 60 pounds per task, when the potential of a plantation is 200 pounds,” explained De la Rosa.
The head of Conacado offered his statements in the framework of the signing of the collaboration agreement with the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), which aims to support small cocoa producers in the cadastral reorganization of their agricultural properties.
In the agreement, the JAD and Conacado undertake to support with direct technical assistance and in the identification of cocoa producers, whose plantations would benefit from the execution of the agreement.
The JAD, through the Department of Georeferencing, Titling and Cadastral Measurement (Geotime), will provide the services of boundary delimitation, sanitation, subdivision, recasting, updating of measurement and georeferencing of farms.
“The first thing we are going to do is to inspect the areas to make a better distribution of work organization. Then we go step by step, for example: location, location, georeferencing, see the legal status of each of these properties to see if they are on registered and unregistered land or not,” said Jennifer Maldonado, surveyor.
It will also offer assistance in cadastral research, planimetry, altimetry, appraisal, parcel location, area determination, and legal accompaniment for the management of property titles, with the highest levels of quality and responsibility, among other services required.
Conacado will provide an initial list of 1,000 producers who will benefit from the technical services, indicating the name of the producer, telephone numbers, location of the plantation, starting with farmers who have an average surface area of 50 tareas.
Conacado will also assume the investment commitments necessary to carry out the work required by the cocoa growers affiliated to the institution.
According to data provided by the JAD, the Dominican Republic is the world leader in organic cocoa exports, contributing about 60% of the total volume exported.
It details that cocoa bean exports and its manufacturing, between the years 2011 and 2020, verified an average value of US$196.5 million, with 2015 being the year of the highest exported value with US$252.5 million, and 2017, the lowest exported value with US$142.2 million.
