The Fontagro project of technological innovations in the production of vegetables under a protected environment begins in the Dominican Republic

Published at: 14 May 2020

 

We are here in the greenhouse of Leonardo Cruz, in the town of Don Pedro, municipality of Tamboril, Santiago Province, carrying out one of the activities within the Fontagro project "Innovations for Horticulture in Protected Environments in Tropical Areas: An Intensification Option Sustainability of Family Farming in the Context of Climate Change in Latin America”.

We have here the variety of cubanela chile "Siete Bello". The Siete Bello is the most pest resistant variety and meets the market requirements, giving me a thickness of 2 inches and a length of 20 centimeters, which is what the market demands the most. This chili is more in demand than the other varieties due to the requirements it provides, such as good size and thickness, mainly, which is what the market is interested in. We have this for the applications of good products, which is where we emphasize the good product and application.

When we talk about a bottleneck, it is really the part of the sale basically, we try to eliminate the part of the intermediaries and in this way the gap between producing and selling was reduced. We export to a market that is the United States, ourselves as an exporter, basically Florida and New York. In NY we have several clients who own a supermarket chain. In New York it is the Hust Point market.

the products is coming from different parts of the country, for example the bell pepper that is coming from Ocoa, Constanza and other parts of the country how is Jarabaoca. But those are the principals zone of production of the country. The products, as the bell peppers tha is coming from Constanza and Jarabacoa have a good quality because is grown in greenhouse. This is different in the open field, we call product of the open field to the product is not grown in a greenhouse. it is grown is under a plastic structure and the pepper it does not come out with the same quality. This is already a greenhouse pepper but if it had not been a greenhouse it does not the same quality. The greenhouse pepper is coming out with that quality and is more durable.

The cucumber is coming out, mostly from Constanza and right now is the majority planting is in Constanza. That green cucumber is from Constanza that is the best cucumber as much in taste as in quality. Because before, a whiter cucumber came to the market that did not come from there and was a cucumber of lower quality and less flavor. This is the cucumber that is in most demand in all supermarkets and markets.

Like the cubanela pepper, that pepper we see there, it is a greenhouse pepper that also has a difference with the open-field pepper. For the most part, the greenhouse cubanela comes as green because of the type of seed and the type of planting. however, the open field white cubanela pepper is less durable than this one. That one has more demand and is always priced more expensive than the other.

Sponsors
BID
IICA
With the support of
Fondo Coreano de Alianza para el Conocimiento en Tecnología e Innovación (KPK)