El Seibo Province
Former administrative center for eastern DR; traditional cattle province with 9 colonial-era ranches; RD$669M animal health investment (2024).
El Seibo Province served as the administrative center for the entire eastern Dominican Republic during the colonial era, when Higüey—now a separate province—fell under its jurisdiction. The Spanish divided the territory into nine 'hatos' (ranches), establishing the cattle-raising economy that still defines the region. El Seibo municipality gave the province its name and economic identity: extensive pastures where beef and dairy cattle graze, supported by artificial insemination programs that improve herd genetics.
Modern El Seibo balances cattle with diversified agriculture: sugar cane in the lowlands, coffee in the mountains, and staple crops including rice, corn, beans, and root vegetables. The province shares the Dominican Republic's 3.5-million-head cattle inventory, distributed across 58,000 farms nationwide. In 2024, the government invested RD$669 million in animal health improvements—including brucellosis and tuberculosis control—that benefit El Seibo's ranchers directly.
By 2026, El Seibo will test whether ranching tradition can modernize without losing character. If genetic improvement programs and health investments increase productivity per animal, the province could maintain output with smaller environmental footprint. If modernization bypasses small ranchers or tourism development in neighboring provinces draws labor away, El Seibo's pastoral economy may decline rather than evolve.