Dominican Republic livestock farming sector generates 300,000 direct and indirect jobs

JAD highlights “great socioeconomic importance” of food systems industry 

SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC — The livestock industry of the Dominican Republic has managed to remain afloat despite the COVID-19 pandemic, retaining some 300,000-plus jobs, according to the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD).

During a series of Agro-Business Dialogue sessions geared at assessing the sector and hearing directly from its workers, the JAD noted, “The Dominican vaccine livestock has great socioeconomic importance, which is expressed in great measure by your contribution to the raw agricultural domestic product (PIBA); the amount of producers involved; and generated direct and indirect jobs.

“Attending the data of the National Agropecuario, conducted by the National Office of Statistics (ONE) and the Ministry of Agriculture in 2015, in the Dominican Republic, 47,916 productive units are mainly dedicated and to raising cattle.”

The JAD added, “According to data provided by agrope authorities, the vaccine livestock, chained to collection centers and dairy processors, generates more than 300,000 direct and indirect jobs to the national economy.”

In addition to job generation, the industry has “shown a great breakthrough” in the Dominican Republic over the past decade “due to more than reproductive biotechnology”, the organization outlined.

“Dominican farmers producing milk and beef have significantly improved their production levels by using avant-garde techniques, among which [are] embryone transplant, fertilization in-vitro and artificial insemination,” it noted.

Sector talks

The JAD revealed the state of the livestock industry during the business dialogue held under the theme “The 5G Livestock. E3: an innovative vision of national livestock”.

This marked the third of such sessions that covered topics including but not limited to the impact of climate change on agricultural production and the supply of post-COVID-19 food.

“Dialogues are an opportunity for all of us to contribute our grain of sand and aim to respect a healthy diversity of views, encourage common exploration and highlight promising new forms of collaboration,” the JAD said.

“These dialogues are held within the framework of the United Nations National Dialogues on Food Systems in the Dominican Republic, with a view to the 2021 World Summit, and represent an opportunity for all citizens to collaborate as stakeholders in global food systems.”

The JAD noted that “leaders from productive subsectors in the national agricultural sector, as well as representatives of companies and institutions linked to the private agri-food sector” participated in the talks to “provide all participants with an opportunity to help conceive of the food systems of the future”.

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