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THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
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following the depression of 1921 explain the insubstantial results of these measures. True, the Agronomic Sta-
tion and College of Agriculture did reopen in Haina in 1920, with facilities and equipment for a dairy; a barn;
a chicken coop; pigpens; a tool shed; a well or cistern; a water tank; a windmill; a septic tank; buildings for
the College, a scale and other equipment; housing for the director’s family and the gardener; and a dormitory.
Police protection was also provided.
10
And after that, substations began to spring up, initially in Constanza,
Montecristi, and Pontezuela (Santiago), where operations would later include model crop farms or demon-
stration fields for planting sugarcane, cotton, and other products. This movement continued to spread, result-
ing—during the Vásquez administration—in a system of demonstration fields for agricultural crops, breeding
stations, and organizations of fruit inspectors and agricultural instructors. In general, these workforces were
supervised by agronomists and experienced experts, and the activities were focused on improving crops for
export and for domestic consumption.
However, even these facilities barely reached the level of the farm schools projected by Cáceres a decade
earlier. It was not until Ciferri arrived in 1925 that it could be truly affirmed that science had an impact on
Dominican agriculture by means of research, education, and the systematic application of improvements.
National Agronomic Station and College of Agriculture in Moca
The occupation of Dominican territory by U.S. Marines ended in July of 1924, following the election of Gen-
eral Horacio Vásquez as president of the Republic. The new administration took on agriculture in earnest as
a mainstay of national progress, converting the agrarian program into official State policy. As Walter Cordero
aptly states:
Although Dominican historiography has not yet applied itself to examining this topic with the atten-
tion it deserves, there was an auspicious change in attitude on the part of the national government and
society, beginning with the administration of Horacio Vásquez (1924–1930), regarding the search for
options to resolve the weighty problem of deforestation without neglecting progress in agricultural
and livestock production. The new regime outlined a strategy for development aimed at implement-
ing a modern culture of agriculture, based on technical and scientific procedures conducive to a more
harmonious relationship between labor and nature.
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Cordero identifies five key aspects of this plan, although harsh reality required modifications due to what
he calls “state ambivalences,” referring to both internal inconsistencies within the measures and contradictions
between them. These five aspects are:
1. Reopening and modernization of the “College of Agriculture and Agronomic Station in Haina,
with the Italian phytopathologist Raffaele Ciferri designated as director. This institution (later trans-
ferred to Moca) became the technical and scientific underpinning of the government’s agricultural pol-
icy by means of a novel program of research and instruction, unprecedented in the Republic.” Cordero
muses: “During the latter half of the 1920s, this organization’s efforts propelled a surprising advance in
systematic knowledge of the country’s flora and fauna. This endeavor was disseminated via a program
of publications.”
2. Measures for the use and protection of natural resources. “In September of 1924 … Vásquez intro-
duced a bill before the National Congress to create stricter regulations regarding the conservation and
management of forests and water.” In 1925 a law was passed prohibiting the exportation of charcoal.
3. Social and citizen participation, especially by women, that “demonstrates above all the genuinely
altruistic concern of its sponsors in favor of nature and the Dominican nation… . In 1924 a group
of ladies, presided by Mrs. Consuelo González de Peynado, initiated, at last, a celebration in the