The Ministry of Agriculture stated yesterday that the rains in recent weeks had not caused serious damage to the country's agricultural production.
In a press release, the Ministry stated that technicians had visited its eight regional headquarters and found no significant damage to agriculture and livestock.
"In general, the recent rains have not caused major damage to national agriculture," they stated. According to the inspection, conducted by the technicians of the Department of Agricultural Production, only some roads have been affected by the excess water so far, mainly in the provinces of Azua and San Jose de Ocoa.
The report also states that the rains would actually benefit the agricultural sector more than it would hurt it. This means that the drought has subsided and that the dams have reached appropriate levels, after having been below operating levels for a year and a half.
The Minister of Agriculture, Angel Estevez, said that most of the country's dams were stocked, "which means that these rains have benefited the production system at the national level because it has been raining throughout the whole territory."
He added that the technicians of the eight regional Ministries of Agriculture were in permanent contact with producers in the production areas to make a report and provide them with the assistance they may require, in case they had any losses in their productions.
According to the report, the only damage reported so far has been the damaged caused by the hailstorm last weekend to 1,500 acres planted with potatoes in Tireo, Constanza. Moreover, producers from different parts of the country, such as Baní, Azua, San Cristobal, Monte Plata, Las Matas de Farfan, San Juan, and other parts of the country have reported damages in their plantain, banana, curler, mango, and avocado plantations. Producers in those communities lost some production to the strong winds that accompanied the rains.
Source: hoy.com.do