As the Dominican Republic’s tourism sector continues on an upward growth trajectory, the country’s Special Fund for Agricultural Development (FEDA) is rolling out a bold new strategy to leverage this momentum: expanding agritourism to diversify the nation’s tourism portfolio, empower rural communities, and elevate Dominican agricultural products to the global marketplace.
FEDA’s Executive Director Hecmilio Arístides Galván Cruz made the case for this new approach during the recent DominiCoco 2026 event, arguing that the country’s natural agricultural wealth positions it to draw visitors beyond the iconic coastal beach destinations that have long defined its tourism industry. “Agritourism is just beginning,” Galván noted, pointing to the untapped potential of working farms and small rural towns to evolve into unique, immersive tourist attractions while creating new channels to promote the country’s flagship agricultural exports, including cocoa, coffee, bananas, pineapples, avocados, and tobacco, to international buyers.
The agritourism push is being formalized through the *National Program for the Promotion of Agritourism “Sow Progress,”* which launched in January 2026 in Yaguate, San Cristóbal. This comprehensive initiative includes a range of programming designed to connect visitors and producers: it opens working farms to guided tours, develops scenic agricultural hiking trails, offers farm-to-table gastronomic experiences, builds direct local product marketing channels, and provides critical training for small-scale producers in hospitality services, quality control, and value-added production techniques.
Several landmark projects are already underway as part of the strategy. In the northern border province of Dajabón, the Tilamiches Fishermen’s Ecotourism Restaurant has launched a hybrid model that integrates sustainable tilapia aquaculture, local culinary experiences, and cross-border tourism to draw visitors from neighboring Haiti and other international regions. Further south in Cambita Garabitos, FEDA has broken ground on the Agroecological Avocado Park, a RD$194 million development project that is projected to deliver direct economic benefits to more than 2,200 local avocado producers once completed.
Beyond agritourism, Galván highlighted FEDA’s broader portfolio of support for the Dominican agricultural sector, which includes nearly 40 targeted programs and incentives tailored to the needs of different agricultural regions and commodity sectors. These initiatives range from dedicated production support for cocoa, coconut, coffee, and avocado growers, to educational school garden projects, and targeted resources for rural women and young agricultural entrepreneurs.
Additional programs expand support to non-traditional agricultural settings: they encourage small-scale family farming in residential areas, bring agricultural training and work opportunities to incarcerated individuals in penitentiary centers, and drive economic development in isolated communities across the country’s remote mountain ranges and the protected Sierra de Bahoruco region.
One notable domestic-focused initiative, the “Consume Our Own” program, works to boost domestic demand for locally grown food and encourage Dominican restaurants and culinary professionals to prioritize native agricultural products in their menus. Galván emphasized that expanding and diversifying the ways Dominican agricultural products are consumed and marketed is foundational to building a stronger, more resilient agricultural sector. Combining growing domestic demand with expanded agritourism opportunities and traditional export channels, he argued, will unlock sustainable new economic opportunities for the country’s farmers and the rural communities that form the backbone of Dominican agriculture.