“We need irrigation, reforestation and inputs”
Everything in Haiti is captured on canvas and the bounty of the land is no exception, but is this merely artistic license? The real picture is of land degradation, weak investment and low production, prompting urgent calls for reform.
Passion fruit seller, Port-au-Prince.
© Debra Percival
65% of Haiti’s population still depends on the land for a living, yet the sector only raises 25% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, President of the broad-based peasants’ body, the National Congress of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPNKP). Farming has been beset by years of neglect, argues Chavannes. This was hastened by liberalisation in the 1980s and an over-reliance on imports. A further element in the decline of local production was the economic embargo against Haiti, 1991-1994, cutting off import of inputs such as animal fodder needed for farming.
Chavannes says today’s “dramatic situation” has deeper roots. Delayed agricultural reform is partly to blame, he says, with no proper sharing out of land since independence in 1804, when division of the land of poor slaves amongst the generals merely produced what he refers to as “neo-slavery”. “Agrarian reform is pressing”, says Chavannes, pointing out that 80% of local court cases involve haggles over who has jurisdiction over which parcel of land.
Up to the 1960s however, Haiti was self-sufficient in food. After which the neo-liberalist regime began to bite and gradually destroyed local production, rice, poultry and eggs industry being examples. Since then, the country has suffered from a lack of political commitment to the sector, he argues.
An ever-increasing population has also taken its toll. At independence, 85% of Haiti’s half a million people was essentially rural in the centre, south-east and north-east. Today it stands at 8.7 million (EU figure for 2007) with 40% living in urban areas. High fuel costs mean that wood burning fuel is used by the majority, stripping forests and causing further degradation and erosion of land for cultivation. 50% of Haiti’s land is currently unsuitable for cultivation. The upshot, argues Chavannes, is a mounting food import bill: “We import $300 million of food every year. This is a catastrophe.”
Credit lacking
Many others involved in the sector in Haiti agree the country could better meet its own food needs particularly of poultry and eggs. In the 1980s, industrial production of eggs took off. Then, 100,000 were produced daily in Haiti, according to Michel Chancy of the Association Haitienne pour la Promotion de l Elévage Haitien Association for Livestock Rearing (AHPEL), and also of the NGO Vétérimed. Now just 30,000 eggs per month are produced by Haiti’s remaining large farms. With better infrastructure, credit and good supply of electricity, the Dominican Republic has filled the gap left in the markets, says Greet Schaumans of the Belgian NGO, Broederlijk Delen.
As for chicken production, from 6 million annually in 1980s, production declined sharply in the early 1990s due to the economic embargo. At the end of the 1990s, the market had been filled by massive imports of frozen chicken pieces, according to Vétérimed figures. Now, the country’s chicken production is just a quarter of 1980s levels, or 1.2-1.5 million per annum.
Nearly everyone connected with the sector says what is lacking is credit to invest in technology and inputs to enable farming to fulfill its potential. Gabriele lo Monaco, counsellor at the EU’s Haiti delegation says, “There is virtually no investment in agriculture by the smallholder.” Adds Chavannes: “There’s been a de-capitalisation of the peasant farmer.”
Chavannes says that farmers in the Dominican Republic can access credit at 12% annual and as little as 6%. In Haiti, credit is either unaffordable or unavailable. Interest rates of 20-30% interest is common. He reflects “We need a political commitment to agriculture that is lacking. We need irrigation, reforestation and inputs. We will be calling for a diversified agriculture at the 35th Anniversary Congress in March 2008, also fair trade and reform of the land.”
Serge Gilles, leader of the Fusion party of Social Democrats, also statedin an interview, the need for credit and land reform to enable people to own land which would encourage individual investment. He also feels that Haiti has a future in organic farming, this produce fetching much higher prices than ordinary produce in international markets.
‘Lèt Agogo’
One agricultural project which has made a mark was set up by Vétérimed, the NGO of professionals specialised in animal health and production whose aim is to help small rural farms increase income. Dairy produce such as sterilised milk and yogurt manufactured in 10 micro-transformation units are distributed country-wide by youth and rural organisations. Lèt Agogo, the marketing name for the products, has won a prize for best product in South America.
Agriculture is not a priority sector for the 10th EDF, but the EU has previously funded many projects with NGOs to promote food security and also launched an agricultural diversification scheme for the centre and south. A recently approved €3 million project, with €495,000 from the government of Haiti, will draw up information on the vulnerability of those dependent on agriculture country-wide, to be carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Haitian Statistical and Information Institute, the aim being to develop strategies against food insecurity.
A few niche products like Rebo and Haitian Blue coffee and the Francis mango, popular with the Miami-based Haitian diaspora, have had some export success. Although poor infrastructure and the limited refrigeration facilities are obstacles to exports of perishables on a wider scale.
Some feel that Haiti should follow in Brazil’s footsteps in growing more sugar cane to produce bio-ethanol. This would cut back on the country’s fuel bill, argue some. But the Belgian NGO, Broederlijk Delen, says in a paper that before going ahead there should be questions about whether this would be the best use of land. More widespread use of land for bio-ethanol production globally will push up prices of foodstuffs, it argues. For import-dependent Haiti, this may offset any benefit from cheaper fuel in addition to the huge investment in water and infrastructure required for any bio-ethanol venture.
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