The Dominican Republic's banana crops could be in danger due to new fuel sale control laws that have proven a bureaucratic nightmare, the country's peak aerial fumigators body told newspaper El Nuevo Diario.

Association of Applicators (APLICA) president Oliverio Espaillat Bencosme, has criticized the new laws from the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), which have slowed the delivery of crucial supplies needed for harvests of bananas, rice, maize and cassava, the story reported.

APLICA has called on the DNCD to rescind the law so the situation could return to normal, while Espaillat Bencosme told a press conference that Minister for Agriculture Salvador Jiménez had still not responded to requests for intervention.

He said the DNCD could not allow the country's people to be put in danger by food insecurity, having worked so hard to earn a dignified living and support their families, the story reported.

"In more than 40 years that we've had aerial fumigators there have been no precedents of our pilots being involved in narcotrafficking, because if they did so we would be the first to expel them in a dishonorable way," he was quoted as saying.

"We are eight companies with 20 aircraft that are dedicated to this difficult work to combat pests and disease for Dominican producers, in a way that ensures food for our people."

Photo: El Valle Informativo

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