agricultural

In May 2017, University of Hawaii-Manoa (UH) professor, Dr. Ethel Villalobos and UH graduate student, Scott Nikaido, traveled to the regions of Valverde and Monte Cristi in the northeast of the Dominican Republic, where they surveyed eight apiaries and made recommendations on beekeeping management. The objective of this F2F team assignment was to provide hands-on training to banana producers of the Banelino Association on the development and implementation of apiculture projects for honey production. As part of this assignment, Dr. Villalobos and Mr. Nikaido worked alongside Banelino staff and led workshops focused on production techniques and technologies for honey bees and queen rearing. The volunteers also assisted Banelino by identifying the best set of endemic flowers for beekeeping and ways that local farmers could improve their apiculture management practices in order to optimize honey production. Dr. Villalobos during her visit to Partners HQ in October 2017 Throughout their as...

Written by F2F volunteer, John Tiedeman, April 15-29, 2018 Farmers are practical people wherever you find them in the world. Challenges in the Dominican Republic were to identify opportunities for soil and water conservation in the fertile Cibao Valley and surrounding mountains. Week 1 focused on a 160 acre ranch where goals include preservation of a remaining cacao plantation, plus demonstration of sustainable organic production methods.   Most acreage in the area of La Vega has been converted to intensive cultivation of cassava/yuca and bananas using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Adequate drainage and water supply are essential to healthy plant growth, whether in the humid climate of the D.R. or in the dry summer climate where I live in northern California.   For surface drainage, the starting point is to ensure an unobstructed outlet.   Although landowner Altair Rodriquez had installed hand-dug surface drains in her cacao plantation, the downstream outlet was ...

Written by F2F volunteer Elizabeth Miernicki In March 2018, I traveled to the Dominican Republic for my first ever USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) assignment. As my plane flew over the country towards Las Americas airport, my eyes never left the window. I could not stop thinking about what the soil looked like underneath all of the lush green foliage before my eyes. I soon found myself in a country three times smaller than my home state of Illinois, but with greater soil diversity. A true treat for me! Terraces in Mao formed by livestock walking along the contours. My F2F assignment specifically focused on improving soil management and water conservation practices to reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility and improve water quality, with an emphasis on global climate change in the Ciabo Central region. The overall objective of the assignment was to provide vulnerable farming communities with the necessary strategies and technologies to improve the resiliency of their farming s...

F2F volunteer, Michael Viola, recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to work with Plan Yaque, a non-governmental institution that combines efforts between the state and civil society for the protection, conservation, and sustainable management of natural resources of the Yaque del Norte River Basin. Its fundamental purpose is to contribute to regional and national development towards the construction of a better and sustainable quality of life in the Dominican Republic. The purpose of this assignment was to focus on the middle zone, Cuenca Media, of the northern Yaque River watershed that consists of 19 micro-watersheds and supplies approximately 11% of the total area. At the end of last year, a meeting was held with various governmental, academic and political stakeholders to discuss the development of a sustainable development plan for the watershed. As part of this effort, Michael’s assignment was to create a comprehensive proposal specifically focused on the Cuenca Media t...

Written by F2F Volunteer, Leah Tewksbury The months of February and March typically are part of the dry season in the Dominican Republic, but during a recent F2F assignment focused on soil health, volunteer Leah Tewksbury encountered heavy rainfall nearly every day of her visit. This atypical rainfall may suggest that the Dominican Republic is experiencing the uncertainties and changes associated with climate change, and therefore farmers learning how to improve agricultural practices to protect soil resources is more critical than ever. Most of the farm sites that Leah visited were located in rural, mountainous regions, where accessibility to these remote locations already takes considerable effort, but with the intense rains, some of the roads became impassable. Many Dominican farmers grow crops using conventional chemical applications on steep, denuded slopes, which are subject to serious soil erosion from frequent tillage and intense tropical storms. The recent storms showcased how...

Elizabeth Church traveled to the Dominican Republic to work with greenhouse technicians to implement integrated pest management and biological controls (IPM). The overall goal of this project was to increase the resilience to changing weather patterns of greenhouse technicians in the Jarabacoa region by helping them implement IPM systems. Biological controls can minimize pesticide use and improve overall sustainability of the operation. Many of the crops in the greenhouses have been negatively affected by various pests and diseases. Reoccurring problems that were observed by Elisabeth include whitefly on the tomatoes, Diptera larvae pests and thrips damage in peppers, and fusarium and charred rice hull in cucumbers. Elizabeth found that none of the greenhouses were ready for biological control implementation and estimated that the greenhouses need 1-2 more years of proper IPM practices in place before successful biological controls can be implemented. Elizabeth had the opportunity to m...

Joy Noviello, Saul Abreu & Alexander Blumberg (APEDI), and Rafael Marte ( F2F Field Officer) First-time F2F volunteer, Joy Noviello, was recently sent on an exciting assignment on landscaping for sustainability and beautification of a central park in the Dominican Republic. Joy’s landscape design expertise came in handy as she extensively surveyed the park and gave many recommendations of specific plant species that will not only visually enhance the public spaces but also facilitate soil erosion protection and water absorption rates. The Association for Development (APEDI) is dedicated to investing in infrastructure and landscape enhancements within the central park to improve the usage and enjoyment among community memebers.  APEDI   is a non-profit organization that currently consists of 70 members, most of whom are businessman and entrepreneurs that have big roles in the Dominican Republic.  The Association focuses on developing ideas and initiatives into programs...

deforestation is prevalent throughout the province Last Tuesday, it was Independence Day for the Dominican Republic! So, here is a blog about some awesome work that is happening there now! Soil expert Jeff Knowles visited a staggering fifteen farms as he engaged with informal discussions with community leaders and farmers on soil quality. Mission ILAC is an organization that focuses on agricultural problems in the remote  and poorer communities in the Santiago and La Vega provinces. A principal goal is to work directly with community leaders to help farmers achieve food sustainability while also reducing chemical usage.  ILAC focuses on cacao and rust resistant varieties of coffee to reverse the effects of farms devastated by coffee rust. Deforestation is extensive in the region due to severe coffee rust years ago followed by the conversion of forest to pastureland as farmers switched to cattle raising. Because of this, Jeff focused on discussions and training centered ar...

By Jan Surface, F2F Volunteer in the Dominican Republic  This past January, F2F volunteer, Jan Marie Surface traveled to the Dominican Republic, where she worked with Plan Yaque on recommendations to improve water quality within the Yaque del Norte watershed. Plan Yaque is a non-governmental institution that combines efforts between the State and Civil Society for the protection, conservation, and sustainable management of natural resources of the Yaque del Norte River Basin. Its fundamental purpose is to contribute to regional and national development towards the construction of a better and sustainable quality of life in the Dominican Republic. During her stay, Jan Marie provided examples on how to set up photo-monitoring points; a list of references for best management practices to improve water quality, tips for writing grants, equipment recommendations for their new water quality lab, and UV treatment recommendations. One of the highlights of her trip, was meeting with William...

Nathan King worked with a leading supplier of high quality cacao in the Dominican Republic, Zorzal Cacao, to establish fermentation protocols that will improve  cacao quality and  ultimately  increase its marketability in the lucrative  global chocolate  market.  Nathan has an extensive knowledge of Reserva Zorzal as he has worked as both a bird researcher and technical consultant for them in the past. On this assignment, Nathan set out to produce higher quality beans by improving the fermentation process and consistency so that there are less undesirable beans in the sorting stage. He also c ollaborated with the Zorzal team to design and build an electronic monitoring and logging system to closely manage the fermentation and drying processes. During this process, Nathan used cacao elements that are typically waste products to study how it affects the taste. Esters, components used for flavor, are increased at higher temperatures and add quality to the fin...

The Dominican Republic has a long and rich history in the production of cacao. However, farmers have struggled to increase the resilience of their cacao yields to changes in the climate. Rebecca Roebber, Marketing Director and COO of indi chocolate , recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to share her expertise in cacao production and quality assurance. In particular, Rebecca worked alongside IDIAF ( Instituto Dominicano De Investigacion Agropecuarias Y Forestales) staff members to help them improve their production practices to become more sustainable in face of climate change and increase the quality and value of their cacao. Following an initial assessment of their current production practices, Rebecca provided training sessions on methods to increase the quality of organic cacao through improvements in pruning and post harvest practices. She also emphasized the importance of soil nutrition to ensure the quality and sustainability of their cacao yields. Rebecca also noted a si...

On Friday, October 27, Partners of the Americas had the distinct pleasure of hosting Dr. Ethel Villalobos for a presentation on her recent Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteer assignment in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Villalobos is the Director of the Honeybee Project at the University of Hawaii – Manoa. During her decades-long career of working with honeybees, she has led groundbreaking research on varroa treatments, mite-bee interactions, colony health assessment, as well as hygienic behavior. Moreover, she has also been developing a series of outreach programs for underserved Costa Rican farmers in need of pollination services. In fact, it was her passion for empowering impoverished farmers with practical beekeeping skills, which inspire her to sign up as a volunteer with Partners of the Americas’ F2F program. In May 2017, Dr. Villalobos and her UH graduate student, Scott Nikaido, traveled to several rural communities in the northeast of the Dominican Republic. The objective of this F2...

By F2F Volunteer Robert Crook In September 2017, I traveled to the Dominican Republic to work on a USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Climate Change Adaptation program. For this F2F assignment, I was asked to work with Mission ILAC, a faith-based organization located in Santiago de Los Caballeros, the DR’s second largest city. For over 60 years, Mission ILAC has a long and well-respected history of implementing medical programs that provide vital medical care and surgeries for underserved rural populations. In the last decade, the organization has been actively working on improving the economic livelihoods of local farmers around Santiago. Much of this technical assistance is focused on ways to empower agricultural producers and prevent rural populations from migrating to the crowded urban areas of the country. During my time in Santiago, I was fortunate enough to work alongside Mission ILAC staff in order to develop a more strategic and climate-smart vision for their agricultural ext...

By: Dr. Aliyar Fouladkhah, F2F/USAID Volunteer, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, Tennessee State University The two hour drive from Santo Domingo to Santiago gave a snapshot of the vibrant agricultural industries in the Dominican Republic. The road to Santiago is lined by farming fields with many road-side vendors selling fruits and vegetables. In addition to being the second largest city in DR and the fourth largest city in the Caribbean, Santiago is also home to several distinguished universities, including ISA University (Universidad ISA)—the host institution for this Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) assignment. Upon arrival at ISA University, I had to opportunity to meet with department head of the food science program. The program currently is home to 8 lecturers/research advisers and approximately 275 students, around 10% of the population of the ISA University students. The timing of this F2F assignment was commendable since it was scheduled during the last two weeks prior t...