Helping women grow in the Dominican Republic

I was in the Dominican Republic in May and June 2010 for 3 weeks and wrote a blog so I could share my activities.  Somehow, events during the months that followed my DR assignment prevented me from taking time to publish my account of this fabulous assignment.  So here it is…  it is not as detailed as previous assignments but it a summary of my 18 memorable days in the DR.  Many thanks go to Juan Pilar for his great help in guiding and assisting me, even taking on the Spanish training, for this assignment. 

My assignment involved visits to many greenhouses in the greater San Jose de Ocoa, Padre Las Casas and Jarabacoa areas as well as meeting with the NGOs and technicians servicing these greenhouse businesses.  During the past 5 years, there have been several initiatives to grant greenhouses to groups of women as a rural development/job creation effort.  Most greenhouses owned by the women are smaller than most, and have been organized in collectives where there are 3-8 women owners.  It is a difficult to make a profit.  In addition, the women lack education on business, credit, marketing, as well as production issues.  Transportation is a major challenge for those in the rural areas.

There is a lot of hillside growing here and it makes for a beautiful landscape. I am here to:

1) develop long term marketing strategies for vegetables produced in green houses.
2) Identify and recommend successful practices to develop market linkages at local and international levels.
3) Provide training to farmers and technicians.June 12, 2010: "I have now been in the Dominican Republic for more than two weeks and still can’t get used to the high level of humidity here.   feet are swollen and I can’t see my ankles--- I assume it has to do with the humidity---I am retaining fluids somehow.   I am currently in Padre Las Casas,  staying in a 5-room hotel, the Al Mana,  which is the only hotel in town.  If I need a shower, I have a bucket with pitcher in a shower stall and I do have a bathroom.  I have been here almost 24 hours and we have had electricity for 15 minutes.  This is my second visit in two weeks to this little village is nestled in the mountains but also one of the areas of the DR which is known for choice agricultural land.  There is a lot of hillside growing here and it makes for a beautiful landscape."

Most are producing peppers which is believed to be the most profitable of greenhouse crops-- especially the colored bell peppers that are favored by exporters.  The demand for peppers is greater than the supply and greenhouses sell all their high quality production.  A Value Chain analysis was done with interviews of greenhouse owners, buyers, technicians and other elements of the chain as well as review of relevant literature. The greenhouse owners are struggling with lack of knowledge in production, credit, marketing, plant or soil disease but should be commented on their continuing tenacity and risk taking.  Most GH owner sell all but that 20% is substandard and  women in that area do not cook with pepper or eat vegetables.  Due to this, they find little opportunity to market in local villages. Women were picked for the greenhouse project because they want to work and be producers.  Buyers are provided by Sur Futuro, an NGO that tries to support greenhouse growers.  The women in the Sur Futuro program do not have to deal with marketing at this time… as buyers are guaranteed by SF.  Problems cited:  Expressed frustration with non-experienced workers putting up their greenhouse--there were problems with construction.  Transportation is a big problem here;  no road-- had to drive across a river and through river bed to get to some interior villages. 

As a picture emerged of their challenge, we developed workshops that would serve as the beginning of their learning process about marketing, and developed strategies for solving immediate problems and for continuing to gain the knowledge they need to continue to grow their business. The workshops were also targeted at Technicians as a “Train the Trainers” skill building exercise.  Workshops were given to 35 agricultural growers in Jarabacoa in conjunction with the Agricultural Fair on June 3-6.   Additional workshops/Instructions on marketing and writing a Marketing Plan were also presented in San Jose, Padre Las Casas to both growers and technicians.  And I had the great opportunity to meet with most businesses/and players along the value chain:  from the small roadside peddler, to the village level middlemen, or middle woman, that buy from the backyard growers and bring or send their combined goods to the larger wholesalers in Santo Domingo.  I’ve also met the larger wholesalers and even the large supermarket chains’ buyers.  All are quite anxious to do business with the growers, large and small. 

The trip was of great benefit and a great exercise to me as I focused on the task to be done and set out to meet the goals of this project.  I enjoyed working with Juan, who worked hard and guided me very effectively through the information gathering and delivery of programs that would be of greatest benefit to the Greenhouse owners.  I felt he also learned a lot in the process and duration of my assignment and feel confident that he will continue to pass on the information and training we developed to producers long after my trip.   I felt I was doing a “training of the trainers” in having the involvement of the technicians throughout our travels and during workshops but Juan was the best of the trainers that I trained.