The women and youths rural areas of three tourist and developing provinces of the Dominican Republic will be part of the value chain of this important economic sector through their agricultural products.
To this end, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Agriculture (FAOin English) and the Ministry of Tourism launched the project for the demarcations of Pedernales, Samaná and Montecristi.
“Our sightseeing it has to be fair, inclusive and resilient; also friendly to the environment”, said David Collado, Minister of Tourismin the announcement of the first phase of the initiative.
Collado stated that he “refuses” to see important hotels, with their giant walls, and behind them the country’s poverty. “We are going to work so that the sightseeing it reaches all Dominicans and raises the economy horizontally,” he said.
The project is technically and financially supported by the FAO and seeks to strengthen the association of farmers, training and access to microcredit.
“The country has the challenge of rebuilding the sightseeingmake it more sustainable, more just and inclusive, that promotes new non-traditional rural destinations and creates resilient livelihoods for their communities”, said Rodrigo Castañeda, representative of the FAO in the country.
The sector sightseeing buys more than 870 million dollars a year from the agricultural sector of the Dominican Republic, which means 14% of national production, assured Rafael Blanco, president of the Association of Hotels and Tourism from Dominican Republic (asonahores).
Rafael Blanco explained that 20 years ago, 75% of the agricultural products purchased by the sector sightseeing they were imported, while today only 10% are imported and the rest comes from local production.
“We want to continue strengthening the Dominican countryside because that way we can improve that purchase, but also improve quality and that goes in line with improving the quality of what we serve to tourists,” added the businessman.
The asonahores records that 56% of employees in the sector sightseeing it is woman and, within this, 23% are single. Rafael Blanco pointed out that it is important to formalize women and youths rural farms for their inclusion in social security.
