RAMIE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Ramie is a plant that, despite being originated from Mainland China, has been acclimatized in American, tropical and subtropical regions.
Our country can cultivate ramie, since it meets the minimum conditions and requirements for the exploitation and commercialization of this urticacea; The only thing missing is the provision to establish it in different areas, since there is an acclimatized variety and the countries that demand it, such as Japan.
We consider it convenient for our country to plant this textile plant since for about a century we have been committed to its exploitation and the variety B. Nivea Tenacissima has recently been acclimatized.
We also buy other textile fibers abroad that can very well be substituted by Ramie, at the same time that we have minimal experience of cultivation and a Dominican company, Ramírez Valdez y Asociados, was established in January 1980. , C x A., based in Santo Domingo, which aims to promote, industrialize and commercialize textile plants, especially ramie.
THE NAME WAS BORN IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
We make the exception that the technical name of ramie, to our pride, was born in Santo Domingo in 1757, when the Austrian Nicolás loseph Jaccuin published his famous "Enumerative Plantarum, Quas en Insulis Carubaeis Derrotis", which he calls it Bohemia nívea, in honor of Salesiano Boehmer, author of the first European book on the industrialization of ramie. Ramie is a plant native to China and India, perfectly acclimated to our territory.
The agricultural technician Víctor Ramírez, in love with the land and with a desire to contribute to the common good, has had a project for 46 years on this plant. He tells that the hero Gregorio Luperón made ramie planting experiments in the country in 1882 and Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina in 1960.
Since 1962 Ramírez has maintained research and experiments and fields of ramie rhizomes.
It says that "we make the exception that the technical name of ramie was born in Santo Domingo in 1757, when the Austrian Nicolás Joseph Jaquin published his famous Enumerative Plantarum, Quas en Insulls Carubaels Detextis, which he named Bohemia Nivea in honor of to the Salesian Boehmer, author of the first European book on ramie industrialization".
He maintains that this plant processed as flour contains in stabilized form vitamins, proteins and minerals in a well-balanced ration by nature.
Research and experiments have done the following with ramie:
- The fiber has been processed to make tablecloths, hammocks, cloths, dolls and others;
- Animal feed in general (feed, forage and flour);
- Syrup has been obtained;
- Food for human consumption has been obtained;
- Paper has been produced and
- Food mixed with another plant has been prepared for malnourished children and pregnant mothers.
These experiments have been carried out at the Dominican Institute of Technology (INDOTEC), today the Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology and Industry (IIBI), the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), Central Veterinary Laboratory and USDA, according to Ramírez, who says he has evidence of those investigations.
He explains that in his ramie VIR, S.A. project He has had collaboration with those institutions, with former President Hipólito Mejía, when he was Secretary of Agriculture in 1978, and with Heriberto de Castro, Claudio Caamaño, Margarita Peralta, Nelson Rodríguez, Barbarin Magallanes, César Sandino de Jesús and others.
He explains that as an experiment he has planted ramie in Villa Mella, the capital and in Dajabón, and that he is willing to hand over his project to the Government to develop it. He complains that the authorities have not been interested in this project, despite the fact that ramie has been found to have 28% protein that is used to feed birds, pigs, cattle, horses and other animals.
BACKGROUND OF RAMIE IN DOM REP
On December 16, 1982, the Puertoplateño newspaper "El porvenir" stated that they had carried out acclimatization studies of ramie in our country, and that General Gregorio Luperón, hero of our restoration, had the land prepared to start planting and introduce this important agro-industrial line, however, his ideas in this regard were cut short by the political problems that were experienced at that time.
Days later, on January 20, 1883, "El Porvenir again made reference to ramie, echoing a French newspaper, which said that" the economic solution for its colonies in the Caribbean is the cultivation of ramie. Faced with the evident crisis in the Sugar Industry, the Puerto Plata newspaper concluded: "Ramie is a plant that brings the steam that touches Samaná to Santo Domingo on January 26; two machines will arrive shortly to exploit the maguey, while the ramie ". The same newspaper spoke about ramie as of October 1888. "The order, from Santo Domingo, recommended the convenience of growing ramie in the country.
It provided data on how the land should be prepared for exploitation, agronomic care and all forms of cultivation.
During the months of the year 1955, Generalissimo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo ordered new experiments with Ramie, which did not give the expected results, since the appropriate varieties were not brought to the country.
It is really only 80 years after the first Dominican attempts that the government decides in 1961 to solve the problem when it invites a ramie specialist. From this official invitation comes the continuous bio-organic process of degumming ramie stems, without prior decortication. The process yielded results, one million ramie bushes were planted in 14 localities of the country, and politics intervened a little later, a turbulent time that did not allow construction works in agriculture.
Even so, the results obtained in the Dom. Rep. were put into practice in Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan and India.
In the early years of the 1960s, a Dominican, Mr. Víctor Ivan Ramirez Valdez, accompanied by several Dominican technicians, completed an investigation in Bonao. They immediately prepared a report on said work for the commercial company SOPODECO, which is in the archives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Santo Domingo. Mr. Ramirez Valdez in the mid-1960s, proposed a project for the exploitation of Ramie to the agricultural bank of the Dominican Republic, in which he specified that a thousand Dominican agro-industrial workers could find work.
In 1978, Ramírez Valdez also planted 40 tasks of ramie in Villa Mella, Santo Domingo, with the initial purpose of creating the source, that is, the seedbed from which the plants that will be used for the exploitation of this textile plant are obtained. and its commercialization in our country.
It can be summarized that we Dominicans have spent about a century engaged in the exploitation of ramie cultivation.
PROMOTERS IN DOM REP
- General Gregorio Luperón - Year 1882 - 1884
- Era of Trujillo - Year 1955 - 1960
- Víctor Ramírez - Year 1962 - 2021
PROMOTES RAMIUM CULTIVATION IN DR
Although the country has not taken advantage of the benefits provided by the Ramie plant, its main promoter Víctor Ramírez affirms that, if there is political will, Dominicans can achieve excellent advantages from its cultivation and contribute to lower production costs of egg, milk and meat.
Ramírez's intention is for this plant to develop, providing the resources for its production, whether in the public or private sector, after considering that "if I have to provide the seeds that are needed, I would. What happens is that We are not like the Orientals and we want the things of today for tomorrow, we want the benefit to be immediate, and that is not possible because everything in life has its process ...
Since 1882, dozens of studies of Ramie have been carried out in the country, and it is believed that its cultivation would influence agricultural and industrial development, especially for its multiple uses: textile, forage or animal feed, paper pulp, pressed wood, organic fertilizers and others.
Ramírez, president of the Ramie project, explains that he has experienced that this plant is tasteful, rich in vitamin A and fat, as well as calcium and fibers.
He affirms that Ramie could be the answer to the many years spent in the search for a low-cost nutritious food that serves to control growth and animal reproduction that meets the needs of economic benefits.
Since 1962, Ramírez began his research to develop Ramie's production. In that year he verified the advantages to cultivate it, but their complaints have been frequent due to the political instability of that time, as well as the lack of cooperation from governments to their Initiative.
He explains that after several studies he found that the leaves have 28% protein, which is an incentive for animal food and even human food. In addition, the plant contains the eight amino acids that the human body needs.
"We have to be on the lookout for when the country is afraid if tourism, free zones or remittances decrease, and look for the guarantee in diversifying and developing technified agriculture", he said.
A project with Ramie as raw material "is what one has fought for since 1962, it is what we need", complaining about the little support it has received. "When we talk with people who have the potential to develop the project, that is a lot of hugs, I congratulate you, but no support, not even from governments."
He highlights that his investigations have been linked to institutions such as the former lndotec, Veterinary Laboratory, the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD) and others.
