Much of Central America has suffered from similar ecological degradation. The Pacific Lowlands suffered, because the tenant speculators who were using the land were doing so on short-term credit. Soil cover, drainage systems, and wind barriers were ignored for the most part, because the long-term health of the land was unimportant to them (Faber 1993b:91). In the Dominican Republic, tomato production on contract farms has caused a host of problems.
The processing firms that contract Dominican farmers to grow their tomatoes decided in the 1980s to begin calendar-based pesticide application rather than need-based. Fertilizer use and mechanical cultivation was also increased. The overuse of pesticides fueled an infestation of white flies in the Azua Valley. They simply used more force with their pesticides until the land was no longer usable then moved on to another location, where the white flies followed them, creating a cycle of infestation and overuse of agro-chemicals (Raynolds 2000:447-448).
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