Photo: DAI

Cit Soleil

DEED PARTNERS ARE INVITED TO AN EXPERT

TRAINING SEMINAR IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
FOR IMPROVED COCOA PRODUCTION
USAIDs DEED (Economic Development for a Sustainable Environment) is a 3 year project aiming to protect two watershed
areas in Haiti Limbe in the north and Montrouis in the west
through improved agriculture. DEED in partnership with Novella, the regions main cocoa exporter, and FECCANO (Fdration des Coopratives Cacaoyres du Nord) formed an alliance
whose goals are to raise revenue and production for cocoa famers, while establishing soil conservation practices through a
Farmer Field School. Experts from the Dominican Republic, the
Commission National del Cacao and IDIAF (Instituto Dominicano de investigation Agropecuario y Forestal) visited several
schools in 2009.

Above, Frandz Cothiere, a participant in the IDIADF

training, learns how to clone a cacao plant using
specialized grafting methods. This technique helps
improve the genetic make-up of the plant, which
enhances the production and quality of the cocoa
seedling thus increasing its productivity.

These visits lead to an unprecedented invitation from the IDIAF

for 10 members of this alliance to join them in a fully funded 3
day training session in the DR in April 2010. During the training,
the participants gained a wealth of knowledge on cocoa production, practices, and disease prevention. Practices included:
Cloning, which increases production with sustained quality; Artificial pollination, which enables the farmer to control the quality, the type of plant, and the variety of cocoa with a 100%
guarantee; Pre-germination, which helps guarantee the viability
of the seed.
Participants also learned how to identify and combat the 5 most
devastating crop diseases and prevalent pests. All the common
diseases have natural remedies that do not require a chemical
intervention (pesticides) and therefore can easily be adopted by
the Haitian farmer. Training in fermentation, drying techniques,
quality control and other methods of treating cocoa were given.

.
Group photo of participants in attendance at the
training. From Haiti, the following organizations were
represented: USAID, DEED, NOVELLA, FECCANO
and Maison WIENER. In attendance from the DR:
CEPROGPLANSE, IDIAF, CNC, and CONACADO.

Following the seminar, DEED organized their own training sessions during the months of May and June 2010, where 20 more
farmer educators received their training, and who in turn,
trained over 2,400 producers. NOVELLA, FECCANO and
DEED are also in the process of establishing 5 new improved
cocoa varieties in the North and will create a genetic bank
of cocoa allowing farmers to use this higher yielding type of
crop.