Impact of climate change on the cultivation of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) in the Dominican Republic.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to determine the impact of climate change on cocoa cultivation in the Dominican Republic. The methods used were quantitative, qualitative and correlational. A statistical analysis of trends was performed on climatic variables such as: average annual temperature, average maximum temperature, average minimum temperature, extreme maximum temperature, extreme minimum temperature, total annual precipitation, precipitation in June and July; as well as annual cocoa production, correlation analysis between climatic variables temperature, precipitation and production variables, evaluation of the behavior of the climatic variables temperature and precipitation and their variability according to the perception of the producers. There was a significant trend only in the variables average minimum temperature and total annual precipitation. There was no clear relationship between the climatic variables analyzed, their effects and the crop, nor were significant differences found between the climatic variables studied and the production variable. The producers consulted said they had been negatively impacted by climate change. The lack of significant differences between these variables could be due to other soil factors, crop management, resilience to the variables studied and extreme weather events, which could have influenced production and were not taken into consideration in this research.