4.3.1 Introduction

Agricultural production in the Dominican Republic is comparatively intense. The typical cycle of pesticide application as described in Chapter II is also found in the Dominican Republic.

The MRL regulations (see Chapter II) enforced by the industrialised countries are restricting the export of agricultural produce from the Dominican Republic.

It is against this background that the planting and use of neem trees were promoted in the Dominican Republic side of the island of Hispaniola by the GTZ project "Production of natural Insecticide from tropical Plants" in the Dominican Republic in the 1980s and first half of the 1990s (Hellpap 1996, Brechelt 1995, Brechelt & Hellpap 1994). Later a lot of private farmers planted neem and the NGO FAMA (Fundacion Agricultura y Medio Ambiente) continued to promote the use of neem trees within its agricultural training programmes. Additionally, the manufacturing of neem products was improved and made more professional.

On the other side of Hispaniola a lot of neem was planted as a shade tree during the 1960s by US American church groups such as "Double Harvest" in cooperation with the national road department.

The case study presented here aims to analyse the present state of neem manufacture and use in the Dominican Republic. It intends to identify constraints and the intervention opportunities which are needed to help neem pesticides acquire a greater market share and contribute substantially to a reduction of the impacts and problems caused by synthetic pesticides.