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Promoting Rural Diversification in the Dominican Republic


Highlights

  • Rural diversification improves incomes, food security and environmental protection.
  • Abt implemented the Rural Economic Diversification Project.
  • A Dominican NGO is carrying on the project’s significant achievements.
The Challenge

Helping small-scale producers and processors of agricultural and wood products in the Dominican Republic has multiple benefits. In addition to increased incomes, this growth could promote food security for the poorest Dominicans and protect the environment.

The Approach

Under the Abt-led Rural Economic Diversification, Abt helped USAID:

  • Strengthen capacity to produce higher quality and greater quantities of selected commodities and increase sales and exports
  • Strengthen operations and production capacity of agriculture-related micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)
  • Enhance access to finance for rural MSMEs
  • Promote sustainable management of natural resources
  • Assist in the development of proposals for basic infrastructure to facilitate marketing of agricultural goods;
  • Develop strategies to ensure the sustainability of project interventions
The Results

Small-scale producers collectively increased their exports by more than 50 percent, while in-country sales more than doubled during the project. Other achievements included:

  • Helping 15 cluster groups of Dominican small-farm producers and processors increase exports by $6.1 million over the project’s life
  • Training 5,275 MSMEs in management practices to meet export requirements
  • Helping 725 MSME cluster members achieve international certifications
  • Widening access to credit through 3,364 loans totaling $11 million for small producers and processors
Regions
Latin America & the Caribbean