Santo Domingo.- The Fuerza del Pueblo party denounced on Monday the serious situation that, in its opinion, the Dominican coffee industry was going through and accused the Government of abandoning this important sector.
He expressed concern because “coffee producers have seen a decrease in the extension services or technical assistance they received from government authorities, as a result of the cancellations of agricultural professionals and technicians.”
The Fuerza del Pueblo, through its secretariats for Rural Development, Agricultural Affairs, Water Affairs, and Strategic Affairs and the Environment, denounced that the Government has failed to fulfill the promises made on different dates and by various means to those who are dedicated to the production of coffee.
Acting as spokesperson for these FP organizations, Modesto Reyes Valentín, head of Rural Development, said that the Government of Luis Abinader had broken its repeated promises to settle the debt of 397 million pesos that coffee producers have with the Bank. French and the Agricultural Bank.
Speaking at a press conference, Reyes Valentín said that on five occasions, President Abinader announced the payment of the debt of coffee producers, among them in the National Palace on April 11, 2022, without having to date fulfilled that commitment.
He said that around 15,000 coffee producers have their credit compromised by the debt with the PROCA 2 project, which prevents them from accessing new financing for their crops.
“On the contrary, the situation of coffee producers is even more worrisome, because they have seen the extension services or technical assistance they received decrease, as a consequence of the cancellations of agricultural professionals and technicians,” stressed Reyes Valentín.
Similarly, Paino Abreu, head of the Environment, declared that with the appearance of some diseases, “many plantations were abandoned or changed for other crops, altering the agroecosystem with slash and burn work and, therefore, harming the protection of basins and the capacity of water catchment.”
