PORT AU PRINCE.- A Dominican official asked the European Union and the Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to support joint project between Haiti and Dominican Republic to plant macadamia, aimed at creating more than 2,000 jobs and contribute to protect the  environment.

Competitiveness Council (CNC) director Andres Vanderhorst, speaking in the conference “Challenges and opportunities competitiveness” as part of the 10th Caribbean Business Forum, said the project could make both countries America’s leaders in the production of that nut  and its derivatives, and contribute to protect and recover the forests of Hispaniola island.

He noted that for a long time dozens of Dominican growers, grouped in the Macadamia Cluster, successfully cultivate the nut. “The raising and marketing of the macadamia nut has proven effective in contributing to lower poverty. Its environmental advantages include the conservation of soils and has the potential to transform Hispaniola Island’s elevated areas into rich farming and sustainable lands.”

Vanderhorst said the project aims to raise the capacity of some Dominican and Haitian organizations to promote agro-forestry’s economic benefits by optimizing the production and quality of macadamia and its derivatives.

Hispaniola has, according to some studies the official cited, the potential for large macadamia crops and noted that agro-forestry’s added value is its sustainable economic and environmental properties, “which in Haiti’s specific case, is extremely important.”