Measuring food security in the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic is a difficult job.
Adapting the US model for assessing food security is one approach to this problem and is the tactic used
by Clark Atlanta University and the Instituto Dominicano De Investigaciones Agropecuarias Y Forestales
under a cooperative research contract with USDA‟s Economic Research Service (ERS) Food and
Nutrition Assistance Research Program (FANRP) in 2008. However, adaptation of this model to
primarily rural and low-income communities does not tell the whole story. Because the Dominican
Republic is a predominantly Spanish-speaking nation, translation of the U.S. Household Food Security
Survey Module was necessary. Using this model and addressing the food security survey to a pilot
program of 110 low-income households – those households thought most at risk for being food insecure –
the researchers administered the questionnaire and collected information which they then used to
determine measures of food insecurity in the Dominican Republic as a whole. A certain number of
assumptions were taken into consideration when assessing food security. Among them are the assumption
that “Families with literate households were more food secure than their respective counterparts” and
“The probability of being food secure was higher in households where women contributed in generating
income than in families where they did not.” Using the accepted definition of food insecurity as “Limited
or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire
acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways,” the study asked a number of questions aimed at
determining the levels of food security among the families involved in the pilot program and used the
answers from those surveys to determine a picture of food security in the Dominican Republic.

With a total measure of food insecurity of 73.6% respondents, this study paints a startling and
disturbing portrait of the issues regarding hunger and food accessibility in the Dominican Republic. The
study does acknowledge that “these results are from a small sample in an area known to be economically
vulnerable, the high prevalence of food insecurity suggests the relevance and importance of measuring
food security in the Dominican Republic.” In comparison to the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) statistics on the Dominican Republic, the Clark Atlanta University study paints a bleak picture.
When contrasted to the 24 percent of the population considered undernourished (Source: FAO) and a
Global Hunger Index of 9.2 (Source: International Food Policy Research Institute – IFPRI), these
numbers seem extreme. And while it appears obvious that the hunger and food security situation in the
Dominican Republic is not as severe as the Clark Atlanta University findings would indicate, it does
highlight the extreme discrepancy in food security between those Dominicans living in urban versus rural
areas. Any way you look at the numbers, the Dominican Republic is a long way from being completely
food secure.

Reasons for the issues of food security in the Dominican Republic are different from those
plaguing parts of Africa or Asia. Though the Dominican Republic is the second largest country in the
Caribbean with 10.2 million inhabitants, slightly over half live in urban areas with the rest of the
population residing in rural areas. In the Dominican, it is the rural areas that are most subject to poverty
and thus, food insecurity. According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and
their Rural Poverty Portal, “The persistence of rural poverty is the result of several factors, including
government priority given to developing the tourism, industry and services sectors during the last
decade.” Dr. Elizabeth Manley, a professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at Xavier
University of Louisiana in New Orleans agrees with this assessment. “Much like New Orleans, tourism
(in the Dominican) dominates the economy. So often food production gets the shaft.”

While agriculture represents 11 percent of the US GDP for the Dominican Republic and employs
nearly 17% of the population, this does not translate into adequate diets for the entirety of the population
but rather undernourishment for the 24 percent indicated by the FAO measures. Though the Dominican
Republic is a representative democracy, political remissions and the focus on tourism have eclipsed
agriculture as a primary source of income and food security for the nation‟s people. With tourism
bringing in over $2 billion (and growing) USD in 2000, government energy and resource allocations are
spent largely on the cash cow of tourism. The single largest revenue stream for the country, tourism
dominates policy in the Dominican Republic. Though initially, tourists visited the Dominican Republic to
enjoy its beaches, the expanding eco-tourism and adventure tourism sub-industries have grown
exponentially and have further cemented the role of tourism as the Dominican Republic‟s top revenue
stream. As a result of this, agriculture, food crops, and food production are often secondary issues.

While the Dominican is the Caribbean‟s second largest producer of sugarcane (after Cuba), and
sugar remains the most important agricultural crop for the country, other agricultural staples include
coffee, rice, and cocoa. The Dominican Republic, like many countries facing issues of food insecurity, is
both an importer and exporter of agricultural goods on a global scale. According to the Office of the
United States Trade Representative, the Dominican Republic exported $161 million of raw beet and cane
sugar, $55 million in cocoa beans and $30 million in fresh vegetables to the United States in 2010.
Despite the decline in world sugar imports and the transition to more diverse food crop production, the
Dominican Republic still holds the largest single allocation of United States‟ sugar import quota and in
2008, the Dominican Republic began sugar exports to countries of the European Union, a move that may
eventually triple the country‟s sugar exports.

The importance of sugar exports to the Dominican economy cannot be overstated. According to
the Domincan website “Dominican Today,” sugar exports for the country earned a total of $157.6 million
USD in 2010 (up from $96.7 million USD in 2009). In addition, the sugar trade employed 30,000 workers
who were paid a total of RD$3.5 billion for their labor. This economic boost is especially important as the
Dominican Republic borders Haiti, a country traditionally beset with political and civil unrest and many
Haitians migrate to the Dominican Republic to seek refuge and employment in Dominican agricultural
endeavors. Because of the catastrophic earthquake in January of 2010 which devastated parts of Haiti,
resulting in between 85,000 and 316,000 casualties (depending on the source of the estimate) and $14
billion in damage, stress on the neighboring Dominican agricultural economy is that much greater.
Because of these reasons, the production and export of sugar to the Dominican economy and the welfare
of the Dominican people is absolutely crucial for the country to maintain its world standing as a key
player in the sugar trade.

Internally, the Dominican people‟s taste for chicken and poultry products has had a huge effect on
their economy as well. Dr. Manley spoke to the importance of chicken, “Chicken production is also a
major agricultural product - Dominicans are obsessed with it.” According to the USDA Foreign
Agricultural Services web site, the Dominican Republic‟s production of poultry products in the 2008
calendar year totaled 266,000 metric tons of ready-to-cook poultry and 1.56 billion table eggs. These
numbers are nevertheless ten percent lower than the 2007 figures and, owing to two years of cold weather
and high feed prices, it was anticipated that the Dominican people would still need to rely on imports of
poultry products. While the Dominican Republic is largely self-sufficient in terms of poultry production,
occasionally imports are needed to cover the excess poultry consumption during holiday times or, as
previously mentioned, during years of cold weather or higher feed prices.

Laura Derby, in her essay “Gringo Chicken with Worms” from the book Close Encounters of
Empire: Writing the Cultural History of U.S.-Latin American Relations, speaks to the conflict that arises
when chicken-obsessed Dominicans are forced to consume imported United States chicken or Dominican
chicken raised on imported U.S. feed. “The gringo chicken (which is of North American origin, is white,
and eats imported feed, but lives in the Caribbean and is grown by Dominican producers) raises a key
issue every Dominican today must contend with: that is, what defines nationality in the U.S.-directed
world system?” (Joseph, et al, 452). While the Dominican people want to declare food sovereignty and
security, particularly when it concerns such an historically and nationally important product as chicken,
the fact remains that the Dominican poultry producers still rely on the United States for feed for their
animals as well as a failsafe when poultry imports are necessary in times of shortages.

Despite this often complex relationship between the Dominican Republic and the United States
when it comes to poultry production and consumption, Dominican poultry producers are hugely important
to the country‟s protein intake. Because chicken is comparatively inexpensive (when compared to beef
and pork, this is largely due to the small on-island populations of cattle and pigs), it is a more widely
available protein source for a greater percentage of the population. According to the USDA Foreign
Agricultural Service, “The Dominican poultry industry is the most important livestock industry in the
country. It is well developed, often vertically integrated and soundly managed. At the same time, it is
protected through a system of import permits and relatively high tariff protection (20-99 per cent). Prices
are also controlled to some extent by government pressure and a mixture of production subsidies.” All of
these regulations help the Dominican remain largely self-sufficient when it comes to poultry production.
As a result, the industry has grown tremendously. The EarthTrends country profile of agricultural
products indicates that between 1979-81 and 1999-2001, meat production in the Dominican Republic
grew by 166%. (This figure includes all meat production, not solely poultry but the figure is still large
enough to speak to greater trends in the poultry industry.)

In terms of food security, the FAO indicates that consumption of chicken meat accounts for 5%
of the dietary energy supply of the daily diet of a Dominican citizen. This marks an increase of 7.5%
between 2000-02 to 2005-07, indicating that a greater proportion of a person‟s daily calorie and energy
needs are being met by the consumption of chicken meat, most of which is produced on-island. The same
FAO report indicates that only 0.7% of chicken meat was imported between 2005-07, marking a decrease
of 3.4% from 2000-02 and further indicating Dominican food sovereignty in regards to poultry
production.

To best address the problems of food insecurity in the Dominican Republic, the country would do
well to follow the chicken model, rather than the sugar model currently in place. Granted, sugar
production and export make up an extremely large proportion of the country‟s economy and large-scale
changes made to crop availability would likely have a disastrous effect on the economic impact of
agriculture. However, the trend has already begun to shift a proportion of arable land away from sugar
production solely for export and towards production of more sustainable crops meant, at least in part, for
consumption on-island. With such a large proportion of the country‟s resources and government attention
being spent on tourist dollars and the development of the tourism industry, it is difficult to garner
attention and allocations for the agricultural industry. Though there is hope that some cooperative work
can be done between the agricultural industry and the ever-expanding eco-tourism industry. Because
tourism brings so much money to the island and it is such a major player in the island‟s economy, on the
surface, there are little problems with continuing to develop both the lucrative tourism industry and the
sugar exports. However, with 24% of the Dominican Republic‟s population food insecure, more attention
needs to be allocated to the development of sustainable agriculture with an eye towards feeding the
Dominican people. Chicken, as well as the relatively low percentage of rice imports (6.6% in 2005-07,
down 6.9% since 2000-02), show positive models for how this type of food sovereignty can be achieved.
Indigenous chicken meat and rice account for two of the five greatest agricultural products in the
Dominican Republic and both go a long way towards meeting the dietary needs of the Dominican people.

 

There are positive signs as well. As Laura Derby writes, “During the gringo chicken episode,
Dominicans rendered their relationship with the United States into a language of the body, striving to take
charge of the great „shark‟ of the Caribbean through its absorption into the idioms of everyday life. And
there is nothing more quotidian in the Antilles than food,” (Joseph, et al, p. 453). That is, there is evidence
to support the notion that the Dominican people wish to be wholly food secure. They do not want to rely
on the United States (or other foreign aid though by and large the U.S. is the greatest aid and trade
partner), to meet their food security needs. The IFAD‟s Rural Poverty Portal states: “But the profile of
agriculture is changing, and groups of small-scale farmers are reaping the benefits of improved
technologies to increase the production of vegetable export crops as a source of added income. In
collaboration with the government, IFAD and other partners contribute to farmers‟ diversification and to
empowerment of their groups and institutions, with the aim of helping them develop new markets.”

…

 

Going forward, the Dominican Republic shows strong indications that the country will deal
positively with the issue of food insecurity. In a semi-developed country, education seems the best option
for addressing the needs of the food insecure. Since most of the Dominican citizens who are food insecure
reside in the rural areas of the country, outreach and education as well as implementation of new
agricultural technology will most likely be the most effective method of creating a more food secure
population.
 

 

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