US Agency for International Development Donates RD$32.6 Million Pesos for Promoting Exports from Agricultural Clusters

US Agency for International Development Donates RD$32.6 Million Pesos for Promoting Exports from Agricultural Clusters
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 8/4/2011

With the goal of promoting institutional and financial sustainability in the Dominican agricultural clusters, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Rural Economic Diversification Project, donated more than $32 million pesos as part of its Shared Investment Fund. The objective is to support 17 projects from the same number of joint productive farms in the DR.

“With these resources we want to help producers continue adding value to what they produce, as a way of increasing their incomes, forging closer and more direct ties to export market and generally improving their lives and that of their families and communities,” …

“With these resources we want to help producers continue adding value to what they produce, as a way of increasing their incomes, forging closer and more direct ties to export market and generally improving their lives and that of their families and communities,” said Luis González, Economic Policy Coordinator of USAID.

The total cost of 17 initiatives to be implemented with resources from the Shared Investment Fund of the USAID project will be $86.4 million pesos. The farming clusters will match, or exceed, the contribution. The total amount being contributed by the USAID for this project amounts to $32.6 million pesos.

“It is about creating a synergy with the idea of shoring up the future of Dominican agriculture. In reality, we are not donating but rather supporting and jointly investing, along with the beneficiaries, in projects which we have all agreed upon. This type of initiative will help the farming clusters be better prepared to face national as well as international competition,” explained González.

As part of the actions to be undertaken, the North Central Vegetable Producers Association will install a Packing Plant for Oriental Vegetables for Exportation in Jima Abajo, in the Province of La Vega. The Plant will cost a total of $13.4 million pesos of which the USAID will invest $2.4 million.

In the past, through the Shared Investment Fund, the USAID has supported the following clusters:

Fishing, Farming Cooperative and the Esmeralda Agro-Industrial and Multi-Services ($2.8 million pesos); the Pineapple Producers Association of Cevicos ($2.1 million pesos); Yucca and Casaba Cluster ($2.4 million pesos); Coffee Cluster of Jarabacoa ($1.9 million pesos); Dominican Avocado Cluster ($2.4 million pesos) and the Horticulture Cluster of Constanza ($2 million pesos).

With these initiatives, the USAID is promoting the internal strengthening and association of the clusters while encouraging and training human resources in joint projects and productions. Indeed, it is the participants who receive training in the specific aspects of their activities which allows them to increase their own productivity and competitiveness.