Monte Plata Pineapple Producers Association

Abstract

The present document is a systematization of the business experience of an association of small farmers in the Dominican Republic; it aims to learn of and identify, in the entity’s organizational and management model, best practices that contributed to its growth. Sharing this kind of successful experience may serve as a reference point for designing public policy proposals, and be a stimulating factor for producers in other regions, demonstrating that it is possible to get ahead with one's own effort, belief in one's peers, obtaining support from public entities that can provide advice in important fields for the organization’s performance, and continuously improving bargaining capacities with clients. Monte Plata Pineapple Producers Association – ASOPROPIMOPLA – a non-profit organization, has been operating in the Municipality of Monte Plata since 2016. The main activity of the association is the production and sale of fresh pineapples, of the MD-2 variety, which began in 2017 and established its first sales agreements in the local and national markets at the end of 2018. The association has its own centre for collection, packaging and quality certification of products for distribution in national markets (supermarkets) and for export (to Europe, Israel and the United States of America), and has established sales agreements with the NicoFrutta and BSD Trópica buyers. In 2021, annual sales reached USD 830 000.