Kombit Farming Keeps Communities Sustained in Haiti

To meet needs of poor farming communities, peasant farmers have evolved a collective- sharing system of crop yields called Kombit. A practical method of community farming, it is predicated on the practice of sharing the harvest over selling it.

How does Kombit work:
At the beginning of the planting season, farmstead owners gather a large workforce from the farming community to prepare and sew their crops. The division of labor assigns men the heavier work of over-turning the ground, with women and children seeding the freshly upturned dirt. To pass the time, planters sing Haitian folk songs and regale each other with humorous stories or jokes. In lieu of wages, farmstead owners treat laborers to three stout meals.

Two positive effects of Kombit farming are economic autonomy and local consumption. In the first instance, farmers protect themselves from being forced to accept below-market prices. In the second, they benefit by being able to consume freshly-grown food products, harvested from their own lands.

One other cost-savings for Haitian agriculture is reduction of exported food products, which reduces agriculture products imported at inflated prices. Kombit subsistence farming is a win-win for the agriculture import-export market in Haiti.

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