The Dominican Republic was one of the first countries targeted by the USPB for the certified potato seed export promotion program. Variety trials have been conducted for various years and now it is being considered a mature market. Commercial seed sales although limited have occurred. The potential market for seed is in fresh market potatoes and chip varieties - both chip stock and seed of chipping varieties. Market access opened up after the CAFTA-DR trade agreement. The Dominican Republic imports all its potato seed with the exception of seed being saved back by individual farmers for one year. Seed sources are mainly the Netherlands and Canada and now the US. The seed market is around 3,000 MT per year or a total value around USD 1 million. Acceptance of US seed is very positive on the whole and now we just need to solidify this market and expand the variety and exporter opportunities.
In the Dominican Republic (DR) there are two steps in getting an import permit. One step is concerning the phytopathological issues. This is handled by the people in the offices os Sanidad Vegetal National. Their main worry seams to be the Golden Nematode and Potato Wart. The Golden nematode is only found in an officially controlled area in New York that is mentioned on the import permit and potato wart is not found in the US. They have other areas of worry but they are easy to manage within a normal seed operation and are justified except the soft rot (Pectobacterium) and pink rot (Phytophthora erythrsetica). They consider these diseases exotic when they are ubiquitous and have established tolerances in every area of the US (and the world I think). Soft rot is found in the DR and in other crops in the DR. Pink Rot is not found in the DR and weather conditions may inhibit it. Chip stock has few phytosanitary issues since they are imported washed. When you ship market potatoes in the US, a USDA inspector inspects them.
The next stage in getting a import permit to the DR is though the production office. The office limits supplies to keep the price high. They use data on demand and supply to control the market. This may work well for fresh market potatoes and chip stock, but because of the lag time on seed between planting and harvest when their production will hit the market this office can get it wrong. Local growers mentioned this problem. This office decides total volumes and not varieties and sources of suppliers. They mentioned with the Golden nematode problem in the EU they would like to see more US seed imports.
The first area visited was San Juan Ocoa. This is a dry mountainous area that needs irrigation to raise potatoes. In the area 95% of the production is to supply the local FritoLay plant in Santo Domingo. Atlantic is the dominant variety grown in this area. Trials have been conducted by the USPB.
There were two varieties we saw on this trip midway though the season. W2324 had a big plant but much smaller tubers than the Atlantic. Megachip had a smaller plant than the Atlantic and seamed a bit later maturity and set tubers far from the plant. Considering how they harvest potatoes in the DR this could be a problem. The method is to pull an iron coated stick though the potato hill with horses or oxen and the potatoes are sorted and bagged by hand right in the field by migrant labor mostly from Haiti.
A video of this can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-_eNxbuAtU
The other big area for potato production is in the Constanza Valley.
Constanza is located at a height of 1220 meters (4000 feet) in the middle of the Cordillera Central. This is a beautiful high cool valley with good irrigation facilities and knowledgeable farmers. There is also a lot of onion, garlic and other vegetable grown in this valley. It regularly gets light rains and mists and cool weather which is good for potato production and also very favorable for some serious potato diseases like late blight and brown rot (Ralstonia). They supply the country with fresh market potatoes. They harvest the year around and move the potatoes to markets in Santo Domingo and Santiago where they are sold in these two biggest cities and moved to other areas. In the DR they want big tubers with smooth clear skin and cream to yellow flesh. Big tubers can make the difference between a profit and loss. Prices between big and small potatoes can vary by D$4/kilo. This price difference can influence seed buying as potato seed is the major expense in potato production. We learned that if potato prices fall below D$15/kilo, farmers tend to replant their seed. And buy seed when prices are D$18-20/kilo. The problem with most varieties with big tubers is they also tend to have more rot problems. We saw this during harvest visits. They also want varieties with early maturity and fast-growing plants that can outgrow diseases like late blight. Disease resistance is also a major consideration in variety selection. Granola which is the main US export variety is like since it has excellent disease remittances especially against brown rot (Ralstonia). Calwhite is also a big US export variety and is liked for its high yield and big tubers. It has disease problems and is mostly grown August though November to avoid these problems. Marauca was another variety seen from Agrico that looks really good. Some of these Dutch varieties do really well for a while until Ralstonia sweeps though and wipes them out. The growers in Contanza were very interested in US seed and had very positive results in the past. Seed prices will always be an issue and their desire for very small one drop seed will be hard to produce for the big tuber varieties they want. Teaching and installing a local seed cutting process can open up more seed for export and lower seed prices. As a seed grower that small 30 - 60 mm seed is the hardest to produce and the priciest.
In conclusion, the Dominican Republic can be a steady seed market. We have some good varieties, market access issues are manageable and its location is good for US exports.
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