The Dominican Republic could become the region’s leader in greenhouses

The Dominican Republic could become the region’s leader in greenhouses
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 10/02/2013

The Executive Director of Agriculture and Forestry Research (CONIAF – Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales), Juan Modesto Chávez, said that the Dominican Republic potentially could have six million square meters of greenhouses by 2016, but that this should require planning.

The director of CONIAF made that statement when he presented his recent book “MI CAJA DE HERRAMIENTAS, Prácticas Apropiadas para el Manejo de Invernaderos como Instrumento de Productividad y Sostenibilidad (MY TOOLBOX, Appropriate Practices for the Management of Greenhouse as a Tool for Productivity and Sustainability),” …

The director of CONIAF made that statement when he presented his recent book “MI CAJA DE HERRAMIENTAS, Prácticas Apropiadas para el Manejo de Invernaderos como Instrumento de Productividad y Sostenibilidad (MY TOOLBOX, Appropriate Practices for the Management of Greenhouse as a Tool for Productivity and Sustainability),” during the Breakfast of the National Confederation of Producers (CONFENAGRO – Confederación Nacional de Productores)..

He said that the Dominican Republic has good prospects for greenhouses, noting that the space that is currently available could be multiplied by one hundred times.

As part of his presentation, the Director of CONIAF shared his experiences on Modelos de Agricultura Bajo Ambientes Controlados en la República Dominicana (Models of Farming Under Controlled Environments in the Dominican Republic) and explained in detail the main chapters of the work.

Chávez underscored that by “making this set of practices for the appropriate management of greenhouses known, it seeks to provide to the cluster, the associations and the cooperatives that produce under this production model a tool to improve their productivity, having as little impact as possible on the environment they have selected to perform the noble activity of feeding a portion of the world.”

Also, MY TOOLBOX touches on vital issues of the modern production system, Farming Under Controlled Environments, which “undoubtedly come at an urgent time to further develop this sector of the Dominican economy.”

The book contains themes such as the Management of Human Resources in Agricultural Production Systems Under Controlled Environments, Water Management, Soil, Nutrients, Integrated Pest Management, and Handling and Storage of Fertilizers and Pesticides, among others.