The minister of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic, Luis Ramón Rodríguez, says that the investment made by president Danilo Medina in the project La Cruz de Manzanillo has helped consolidate the country as the world's largest organic banana exporter, as this productive unit has been expanded with 25 new hectares for the cultivation of exportable produce.
Luis Ramón Rodríguez reminded that over 140 million dollars were made last year alone from the export of organic bananas, making it one of the most dynamic agricultural subsectors nationwide.
The La Cruz de Manzanillo project, based in the municipality of Manzanillo, consists in the replacement of subsistence production units with large plantations of various crops, whose production will be mainly devoted to the export market.
Luis Ramón Rodríguez stated that the Project currently has 5,000 hectares of organic bananas in production and another 20,000 in the planting stage, which will have a great impact on the region's economy.
As part of the Project's re-launching process, Rodríguez explained that changes will be made to the port of Manzanillo so that the larger ships that will arrive with the opening of the Panama Canal are able to enter it.
The country has a total of 336,000 hectares of bananas for export cultivated, 188,160 of which are organic. The total production volumes amount to around 300,000 metric tonnes, of which 168,000 are organic.
The minister of Agriculture said that the Dominican Republic expects to have over 200,000 hectares of organic banana plantations cultivated by the end of the present year.
Source: Diariodigital.com.do