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Farmers in the Dominican Republic have found a smart solution to respond sensitively to natural disasters - and secure their incomes
Maria Genao's gaze is hopeful while scanning her four acres of fields, covered in banana and coconut palm trees.
'When my farm was flooded, the coconut trees survived. For two successive years, our plantations were devastated by the strong winds and flooding due to the hurricanes that passed over the Dominican Republic. But coconuts have thrown us a lifeline,' she says.
Maria is the lead farmer of Bananos Ecológicos de la Línea Noroeste, or BANELINO for short, in the northwestern province of Monte Cristi in the Dominican Republic. Since 2000, BANELINO has been a dynamic and successful organization of family farmers that produces Fairtrade organic bananas primarily for the export market.
Their success, however, had its fair share of challenges in recent years due to a changing climate: more flooding, droughts and hurricanes have caused extensive damage to the banana plantations. Addressing climate change and its impacts are high on the new sustainable development agenda of small island developing states. They are the most exposed and vulnerable...