"With about 20 varieties of avocado, the DR offers a wide range of alternatives. However, while most of these are “green skins", the Semil-34 variety alone accounts for about 60 percent of total production. Being available from October to February, it is the number one Dominican variety exported to the international markets”, explains Peggy Aviotti from IESC, International Executive Service Corps.
The Dominican Republic has about 15,000 avocado producers, with about 400,000 indirect beneficiaries she continues. “Around 87% of these producers are small-scale farmers with under 6 ha. About 9% are medium-sized producers (between 6ha and 30ha) and the remaining 4% produces avocado on a large scale, which means over 30ha. Although the avocado is produced across the country, the bulk of the marketed production is currently based in three zones, in the center, in the south/south-west of the country as well as in the rainier Northern provinces.”
Semil-34 variety
The informative brochure, which is promoting the different varieties of avocados in the Dominican Republic, as well includes this variety. “Green uneven skin and inside it is dark yellow. It’s the favourite variety of the Dominican chefs, as it can be used in all types of preparations. Its taste and texture easily combine with almost all other flavors.”
The characteristics mentioned in the brochure are; traditional Dominican flavour, perfect, unique, creamy, inviting, provocative, flavourful and recorded in your memory. This can be explained as followed: “As it’s very creamy, the avocado melts in the mouth of the consumer. It’s a smooth buttery avocado, oily with a sweet touch. It has an agreeable shock to the palate that invites further tasting and is provocative like the Caribbean. It is inviting for future encounters and being recorded in your memory forever. It can be marketed as Caribbean, synonymous with happiness and fun for the palate.”
Peggy concludes that it’s a reference point for the Dominican palate. “It is the childhood reference point. The Semil-34 is unique in its kind and not comparable to any other Dominican tropical avocado. We believe this makes it a very interesting product for importers around the globe.”
For more information:
Myrell Gonzalez, Grupo 33: myrell@mgf.com.do
Eliot Ortiz, Ely Import R Export: elyexportsrl@gmail.com
Freimer Romero, Agrocluster del Caribe: f.romero@agroclusterdelcaribe.com
Karel Castillo, Agroindustria Ocoeña: kjcastillo@aiosa.com
Raul Reyes, AMR Agro: raul@amr-agro.com